New year, new iPhone rumors. These come from respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
According to a note sent to clients — and seen by AppleInsider — Apple is “aggressively” testing vapor chamber cooling for the iPhone.
The harder that a processor is pushed, the more heat there is to dissipate. While the iPhone does a reasonable job of dispersing the waste heat, the current cooling system is passive.
Which is why your iPhone feels hot at times, especially under prolonged heavy loads.
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But vapor chamber cooling, which is already in use by some high-end smartphone makers (the Huawei Mate 20 comes to mind), would allow the cooling system to be more effective, which means the processor can be pushed faster and harder.
Better cooling would have a knock-on effect of keeping the battery cooler, which in turn should give it a longer lifespan.
Another change that Kuo says could be incoming is an under-display fingerprint reader, which means that Touch ID could make a comeback.
Whether this is in response to mask-wearing or user demand for a fingerprint reader, Kuo doesn’t say.
Kuo also brings up the specter of the end of the road of the Lightning port. This has been on the cards for some time, and now that Apple has the MagSafe chargers for the iPhone, it feels inevitable.
