Here’s our first look at the iPhone 17 Pro’s purported vapor chamber cooling system

If you haven’t gotten enough iPhone news lately, here’s some more for you. Leaker Majin Bu has posted an image that is purportedly part of the iPhone 17 Pro’s vapor chamber cooling system.

We’ve heard for some time now that Apple plans on upgrading to passive cooling inside the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max to a vapor chamber system, and this image certainly makes that seem likely. The photo (seen above) shows a printed board with copper plates that have delicate microchannels throughout. The photo shows 12 structures, which would then be cut and stacked (or stacked on other elements) to form the vapor chamber cooling system.

Judging by the size and shape, it is meant to cover the entire circuit board, including the processor, memory, networking chips, etc.

iPhones are passively cooled (there are no moving parts or fans), and the heat is spread out by a graphene pad and metal enclosure around the battery. The vapor chamber would distribute heat from the chips more effectively, helping prevent hot spots and leading to higher sustained performance for longer intensive tasks like gaming or video editing.

Vapor chambers contain liquid that is turned to vapor above a certain temperature, where the pressure pushes it through little micro-channels where the heat is released and the vapor turns back into liquid, returning to the starting point. It’s not as good as active cooling (fans moving air around or pumps moving liquid), but it distributes heat much better than simple metal plates do.

If it works as expected, you can expect Apple to make note of its advanced cooling system, allowing for higher sustained performance, when the iPhone 17 line is introduced this September.

Author: Jason Cross, Senior Editor, Macworld