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Recent out of the field, the iPhone 15 Professional and Professional Max had been slightly too scorching to deal with. After a clumsy interval of silence, Apple issued the iOS 17.0.3 replace this week that “addresses a difficulty that will trigger iPhone to run hotter than anticipated.” Sounds promising.

Not one to simply take Apple’s phrase for it, I utilized the replace and reran the iPhone 15 Professional by way of the identical exams as earlier than. Right here’s what I discovered.

To start with, idle temperatures and low-stress workloads present basically no change in temperature between iOS 17.0.2 and 17.0.3. As we recognized the primary time round, the A17 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional aren’t scorching the entire time and even stressing the CPU in isolation just isn’t sufficient to throw up temperatures properly in extra of the competitors. That’s as true now because it was at launch.

Nevertheless, peak temperatures present a marked enchancment when pushing the handset to the restrict. Our excessive 3D stress check (GPU stress check) noticed temps find yourself about 2.5°C decrease after 20 minutes than on iOS 17.0.2, placing the cellphone extra consistent with our different check handsets. 10 minutes of 4K60 video recording additionally yielded outcomes 4.1°C cooler than earlier than the replace, which is important.

We even noticed a 1°C drop in temperatures whereas streaming video from YouTube, hinting that the video block has been explicitly focused as an space of problem. The iPhone 15 Professional on iOS 17.0.3 remains to be hotter than our Android flagship rivals when put underneath pressure, however far much less so than our preliminary check run on iOS 17.0.2.

Whereas barely totally different ambient temperatures might clarify a few of these temperature variations in contrast with our preliminary run, the truth that some exams present enchancment whereas others don’t is sufficient to persuade me that Apple’s iOS 17.0.3 replace is taking part in a big half in addressing the problem.

In fact, our check doesn’t accommodate each person state of affairs, so some outliers could stay. Nevertheless, we have now anecdotally additionally observed our iPhone 15 Professional models not heating up with seemingly innocuous apps like Instagram. Baseline in addition to excessive temperatures are higher underneath management since 17.0.3.

Though Apple appears to have addressed the iPhone 15 Professional’s peak temperature problem, the cellphone remains to be barely hotter than some Android telephones when pushed to extremes. However what about previous-generation iPhones? We grabbed the iPhone 14 Professional Max and 13 Professional Max for an Apple-to-Apple comparability.

Once more, idle temperatures and baseline workloads don’t present any significant distinction between generations, neither pre- or post-update. YouTube playback is a tad hotter on the brand new cellphone, however 27.1°C stays cool sufficient to be unnoticeable. Even a extra excessive CPU stress check exhibits shocking similarities in peak exterior temperatures between the A15 Bionic, A16 Bionic, and A17 Professional chips.

Nevertheless, the preliminary iPhone 15 Professional software program model clearly triggered the cellphone to hit a lot larger temperatures than earlier iPhone prospects would have been used to when gaming and even booting up the video digicam. When it received scorching, it received scorching, which is nearly actually why iPhone fans shortly observed the distinction.

With the replace in place, placing the cellphone underneath stress now ends in temperatures rather more consistent with earlier technology fashions. The truth is, Apple’s GPU thermal restrict is surprisingly constant throughout all three earlier generations, and the iPhone 15 Professional now approaches it slightly slower than older fashions. That stated, the iPhone 15 Professional remains to be a tad hotter than its older siblings for prolonged 4K60 video recording periods. On the entire although, the iPhone 15 Professional now feels a lot cooler in hand and way more like its predecessors.

We don’t know the specifics of Apple’s 17.0.3 hotfix, however my instinct is that the preliminary drawback lies with the iPhone 15 energy administration software program.

Whereas we didn’t clock excessive temperatures with our video playback or internet shopping exams, studies that the cellphone would develop into scorching whereas working seemingly mundane apps like Instagram and Uber level to one thing kicking the A17 Professional into overdrive. Most definitely, this occurred when an app powered up superior chipset options, such because the digicam’s video encoder or 3D graphics engine, and the scheduler threw the chip into an unfettered max efficiency mode. That may clarify the high-temperature spikes and the intense temperatures that we noticed in our preliminary gaming and video recording exams.

After 17.0.3, Apple appears to have addressed that problem in addition to carried out correct energy gating, stopping the chip from working flat out. Decrease peak temperatures trace that solely the required parts are actually powering up. This additionally matches with the truth that we haven’t noticed any reductions in benchmark efficiency for the reason that replace.

In fact, that’s simply hypothesis on our half. The essential problem is that Apple appears to have fastened the overheating problem with out sacrificing efficiency. Take into account it protected to hit that iPhone 15 purchase button.