iPhone 15 Pro Series Overheating Issues Not Related to TSMC's 3nm Chip Manufacturing: Ming-Chi Kuo

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max users are reportedly facing overheating issues on the company's latest flagship smartphones, sparking speculation that the new A17 Pro chip on the high-end models in the iPhone 15 lineup could be the cause of the issue. However, TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has weighed in on the purported overheating issue affecting Apple's iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max and states that the issue is due to changes made to the internal design of both models.

In a Medium post, Kuo states that his market survey shows the alleged overheating issues are not connected with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) advanced 3nm node. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are equipped with a 3nm A17 Pro chip produced by the Taiwanese chipmaker, while the regular models feature last year's A16 Bionic chipset that was introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro models.

The analyst claims that the overheating issues said to affect the new iPhone models are likely to be caused by changes made by Apple to the thermal design of both handsets — this year, the Cupertino company used a titanium frame and reduced the heat dissipation area, according to Kuo.

While many users have reportedly complained that heating issues affecting the iPhone 15 Pro models can cause temperatures to rise as high as 46 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit), a South Korean YouTube channel posted a video using a thermal imaging camera to show the rising temperatures of the phones.

It might be possible for Apple to mitigate some of the issues by rolling out a software update to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, the analyst claims. However, doing so would likely require the company to restrict the processor's performance. Kuo also warns that shipments of the iPhone 15 Pro models could be affected if the overheating issues are not resolved by the company.