It's safe to say that Apple has yet another hit on its hands. It's barely been a week since its official launch, but the new iPhone 15 has been flying off the shelves around the world. The iPhone 15 is hot — and not just metaphorically either.
While there's already a number of launch-day bugs and potential production issues with Apple's latest mobile device, perhaps the most concerning are the reports of the iPhone 15's propensity to overheat.
Users have shared that their iPhone 15 device gets hot. Really hot. The issue occurs even when the phone is just charging. And the problem seems to predominantly affect the more expensive models: the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The overheating flaw is so alarming, some iPhone 15 reviewers have suggested not using the new iPhone 15 unless you have a case. It gets that hot. And while Mashable didn't experience issues with thermals during our review of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, the overheating problem is being broadly reported enough that Apple will likely do something.
The problem is that iPhone 15 users likely won't like the solution.
Potential iPhone 15 overheating fix
According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the overheating issue is likely due to "compromises" that the iPhone maker made in the device's thermal system design in order to make lightweight. These compromises, Kuo suggests, includes a "reduced heat dissipation area" and the new titanium frame, which reduces thermal efficiency.
Now, Apple isn't going to recall the iPhone 15. In fact, the company likely already factored in the heat issue when designing the iPhone 15's hardware. None of this is a surprise to them.
So how will Apple potentially address the overheating issue? With a software update. And what will that software update do? Make the impressively powerful processor in the phone, er, less powerful.
"It’s expected that Apple will address this through software updates, but improvements may be limited unless Apple lowers processor performance," Kuo said in his report.
The overheating issue is more prevalent in iPhone 15 Pro models because they are the first iPhones with the new A17 Pro chipset. Now, keep in mind that Kuo says the A17 Pro is not the culprit behind the iPhone 15 Pro models' overheating issue, which means there's nothing wrong with the processor. It's working as intended. But Apple could've produced a device with a better thermal design that can manage the chipset's heat more efficiently.
But, Apple didn't. So, the only way to solve the hardware design problems is through a software update that will throttle the powerful A17 Pro.
How much will Apple's expected software update slow down the A17 Pro chipset? That remains to be seen. Apple will likely roll out an update that makes the change negligible for most users. But, some power users will notice a difference. We'll just have to wait and see just how big that difference will be.
