iPhone 17 Pro may finally catch up with an upgrade Samsung brought to Galaxy flagships long ago

iPhone 16 Pro Max. | Image credit – PhoneArena

Yet another rumor points to some of the models from the upcoming iPhone 17 series getting a fancy cooling system to fend off games that have become too hot. Tipster Instant Digital, who's been pretty accurate when it comes to Apple leaks, now chimes in to say that two models of the four iPhone 17 phones will be getting something interesting to keep away that power-hungry heat.

Yep, I'm talking about the vapor chamber.

Analyst and industry insider Ming-Chi Kuo was the first to talk about vapor chamber tech on the iPhone 17 models. Back last year, Kuo claimed the fancier solution to heating from demanding processor tasks would be exclusive to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. For the other models, he predicted graphite sheets alone for thermal management, just like in previous generations.


Instant Digital joins the crowd whispering in the Internet's corridors, but now claims the Pro-branded iPhone 17 models may feature vapor chambers for cooling, and the non-Pro iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air (if it indeed replaces the iPhone 17 Plus) may not. Probably the most logical suggestion in the rumor mill so far.

A vapor chamber is basically a fancy liquid cooling system. When heat is generated by the processor of the device, the liquid, which is usually deionized water, absorbs the heat and turns into vapor. This vapor then travels to the cooler end of the chamber and condenses into liquid form, thus releasing the heat.

Many modern smartphones come with such technology as mobile processors are becoming more and more powerful. Phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the OnePlus 13 rock vapor chamber cooling to reel in the Snapdragons.

Apple's chips are definitely not slow either (far from it, in fact!), they're becoming more and more powerful with each iteration. And this power comes with a cost: heating when running graphics-intensive games or other heavy tasks. This heating forces the iPhone to reduce power to the chip, which is called thermal throttling. In turn, thermal throttling slows the speed of the phone and its performance.

Of course, the SoC that will come with the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max would be even more powerful than the one currently in the iPhone 16 Pro. So, maybe it's about time Apple included vapor chamber cooling on these power beasts.