An unexpected problem has partially overshadowed the launch of the iPhone 15: Apple’s flagship overheats excessively on some occasions and the company has been forced to acknowledge this problem. The good news for those who have purchased this terminal is that the manufacturer promises to solve this problem urgently and through a software update. This is important, since it would rule out a design problem.
It should be noted that this new iPhone model, in its Pro version, is made on a titanium chassis, a much more resistant material, but above all, lighter. This ambitious leap in design offers a great advantage to the mobile user: its lightness in the hand. However, the temperature problems that have begun to invade the network have unleashed fears among its owners. Will the change in material be the cause of overheating?
A ‘heatgate’ that doesn’t taste new
According to dozens of testimonies that have been seen these days on the networks, the first buyers of the new model began to notice excessive heat in certain situations. Is this a partial perception or was the heat real? Measurements carried out using a thermal camera concluded that we were facing the latter: the rear of the mobile could exceed 46 degrees, levels much higher than what can be considered normal, especially in a mobile of this category.
In forums and social networks, the problem focused on two fundamental scenarios: while the device was charging and while certain applications were running, some of them very popular, such as Instagram. The ghosts of antennagate They were revived among the brand’s legion of followers due to the parallelism of the situation. This incident also took place after a change in the device’s hardware design, when Apple chose to integrate the iPhone’s antenna (in its model 4) into the contour of the mobile. Apple added a little more gasoline to the fire by pointing the finger of blame at the user himself for not holding the cell phone properly: “just don’t hold it like that,” which the brilliant Steve Jobs suggested. However, the company would end up giving all those affected some covers that dispelled this problem and suddenly firing one of the engineers responsible for this new design.
“In the end, the tests are done by those who rush to buy the new iPhone in the first few days,” explains Julio César Fernández, director of the Apple Coding Academy. This expert recommends—until Apple presents effective solutions—“eliminate background processes” from the applications that generate the most “heat.” To do this, just go to Settings and the application you want to restrict and deactivate the ‘Update in the background’ box.
Apple admits and identifies problems
Everything seems to indicate that this is a software problem and, as such, correctable through a software update. In this sense, Apple has not issued an official statement or responded to this newspaper’s request, but it has acknowledged the problem to a CNET journalist. With a “we have identified a few situations that could cause the iPhone to increase its temperature more than expected,” the manufacturer confirms the overheating and points to three possible causes and solutions:
- A bug in iOS 17: the company has identified a problem in iOS 17 (the current version), which “would affect some users and will be fixed through a software update.” The company’s informant has not given more details about this problem or its involvement in the overheating.
- Background activity during restore: This is a well-known situation for iPhone users who migrate from one model to another by restoring from backups running in the background.
- Software problem from third-party developers: Apple would point the finger of blame at updates to applications as popular as Instagram or Uber, which would be behind a “system overload.”
Apple promises solutions, but has not specified deadlines. In a response to EL PAÍS once this article was published, company sources deny that the performance of the processor will be reduced with the update that solves the problem, and confirm that titanium dissipates heat better than steel.
In any case, one of the fears among the owners of this Pro version is that one of the solutions is to reduce the speed of the processor, or in other words, make the iPhone go slower, a whole jug of cold water. for those who would have invested a considerable sum for this premium model. Although the latter does not seem likely, since the American manufacturer has already been sanctioned for a similar reason by the European Union.
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