Apple is reportedly making a significant departure from its traditional thermal management strategy by planning to equip the entire iPhone 17 lineup with advanced vapor chamber (VC) cooling systems.
The move aligns Apple’s hardware with many of its Android equivalents, which had already used VC technology to improve conduction cooling and avoid thermal throttling.
Vapor chambers are closed, twelve-sided metal boxes filled with de-ionized water. When heat from the device’s chipset is applied, the water evaporates, delivering heat evenly across the chamber’s outside. The benefits of this method include improved cooling, which is already a feature of leading Android devices.
This development contradicts previous information released by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said that only the iPhone 17 Pro Max would use VC cooling. According to recent reports, Apple aims to employ all models of the iPhone 17 line, which represents a major step in heat management.
Beyond improved cooling, the iPhone 17 series is rumored to include high-refresh-rate displays in all versions. While it is unclear whether these screens would have a 90Hz or 120Hz refresh rate, the improvement would provide crisper images and bring Apple’s mid-tier devices up to modern display standards.
The use of vapor chamber cooling across all iPhone 17 models is intended to address recurring concerns about heat buildup during strenuous workloads, particularly as chipsets become more powerful. This update is especially useful for gaming on recent iPhones, which now support AAA titles such as Resident Evil Village.
As the iPhone 17’s release approaches, more details are expected to surface, potentially confirming this major shift in Apple’s hardware strategy.