iPhone 15 Pro’s overheating issues are totally not Apple’s fault… Totally

We love the iPhone 15 Pro, but we can’t ignore the overheating issues currently running rampant. The cause of which seems to be disputed — with some experts pointing towards the titanium frame and Apple saying the hardware design is not causing the issue.

From saying people are holding the iPhone 4 wrong to Brexit being the reason for increasing iPhone 14 prices (even though prices have dropped back to normal for this year’s phones), this is not the first time that Apple has shifted the blame. But let’s take a closer look at this issue, and what’s being done about it to see where the real blame could lie.

What’s the problem?

As some users have observed, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max seem to be getting unnecessarily hot to the touch when doing simple things like setting up your iPhone and using Instagram. These claims were further corroborated by The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, and it’s an issue that seems to be affecting a limited number of customers.

Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that these issues could be caused by “compromises made in the thermal system design,” which were driven by the company’s desire to reduce the weight of the 15 Pro models.

However, Apple has responded to counter this argument by saying it’s a “bug in iOS 17,” and “recent updates to third-party apps,” that are causing an increase in background activity and for the system to be overloaded.

In a statement sent to MacRumors, Apple is working with third party developers to address the overloading systems caused by certain apps, and most importantly, the Cupertino crew is rolling out an update to address the overheating issue.

What will the update do?

This begs one simple question: what will this update do to the system to eliminate overheating? In my mind, there are two possible scenarios:

• It’s 100% just a software issue, and we all go on with our days without a care in the world about the heat dissipation of the iPhone.
• To get around any potential thermal concerns, Apple sneakily turns down the A17 Pro’s power potential. 

In Kuo’s same report, he believes improvements will be limited in scope unless Apple reduces the performance of A17 Pro. I will be checking this with some comparison tests before and after the update in a future story for sure.

Outlook

It’s worth noting that during my time with iPhone 15 Pro, I only experienced this overheating issue once — the first day while setting up the phone and transferring information from my iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Not to say this isn’t typical. My Pro Max got pretty warm too when I set that phone up, but the 15 Pro did get significantly hotter to the touch around the top right corner where the chip is based.

One thing I can hopefully say for sure is that the issue will be resolved soon, but all we can do is wait and see how Apple will go about it.