Future Apple iPhones, iPads may have internal fans

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 53
    Unless Apple seals and waterproofs those same future iDevices to the IP-68 standard, then I won't be purchasing them since such a design would also make it impossible for case manufacturers to make their cases to meet the IP-68 standard. There is a reason that every iDevice my family has are in LifeProof cases.
  • Reply 22 of 53


    Originally Posted by Curtis Hannah View Post

    Apple has alternatives to fans, and how hot can a iPhone get?


     


    image

  • Reply 23 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rennaisance View Post


    Samsung are right now assigning their most *fanatical* engineers to implement this first.





    Microsoft is way ahead on this front. Just make it really thick, heavy as hell, and then use just a regular fan from an old pc... voila!

  • Reply 24 of 53
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ifij775 View Post



    I read somewhere that the iPad 4 is cooler, but I'm not sure how they verified it


     


    My 4 just arrived, I will update you in 2 weeks. I'll PM you, I just put it on Calendar.

  • Reply 25 of 53
    kkerstkkerst Posts: 330member
    As processing power in ARM chips gets better, something has to give. Chips will either need bigger heat sincs or forced air cooling. This is something the Intel boys found out years ago and ARM is just now going through. It will be interesting to see how long they can live without cooling.

    Personally I think there is a limit to the amount of performance we can expect from a small package and battery size.
  • Reply 26 of 53


    This looks like something Apple might patent and sit on so other companies can't use a fan without infringing on their IP.  I just can't see them having a fan... but then again I never thought the iPad Mini would happen.

  • Reply 27 of 53
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Buckus Toothnai 


    Sounds fantastic!



     


    Nah, it's some engineer's fantasy.  Never happen.  

  • Reply 28 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ClemyNX View Post


    Today I read an article that asked if it was really necessary to have such powerful processors inside a cellphone. The race to the most powerful spec is typically what Samsung and others try to do. Apple sometimes seems to want to play the same game unfortunately. The iPhone 4 was already very fast. The difference between the 4 and 5 isn't that important in terms of speed. Sure the 5 is a lot faster, but the 4 wasn't unusable. Current processors give their full power only a few intensive games, so what's the point beside that. A phone with a fan? What for? Uggh



     


    Here, allow me to paraphrase your statement:


    Quote:


    Technology only progresses so video games can get better, so there's no point in making further progress because I can already do everything I want to do on my phone.



     


    That's dumb.  We're lucky that video games exist as they do, aggressively pushing the bleeding edge forward due to an insatiable thirst for raw computational power, else we wouldn't have nice things like iPhones that are so very far from being unusable.


     


    While video games may be in a particularly advantageous position to make the greatest use of gains in raw computational power, and while this may not be your particular use case for your iPhone, this does not preclude the practical use of said gains in power by any other application that you may or may not use.  Many of the most elegantly simple apps that we love and use every day have terribly complex algorithms that utilize increasingly elaborate frameworks to provide immersive UI environments and they, too, regularly find a need for more power.  For example, the Facebook app is looking pretty slick these days with a very simple interface that was entirely rewritten in native code for optimum performance and it still lags sometimes.


     


    It is critical to Apple's success (and every other company's as Apple continues to raise the bar) that the countless swipes, fades, transitions, or other graphical executions are smooth and responsive.  The iPhone isn't about being usable, it's about being the best possible solution to a problem.  In fact, a number of problems.


     


    P.S. While Samsung races to a powerful spec to improve performance (to catch up), Apple races to improve the scope of application (to make new things possible).

  • Reply 29 of 53
    nelsonxnelsonx Posts: 278member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by edubong View Post

    uh smart? so when you connect the headphones the air vent gets blocked!

    a fan that vibrates and makes noise inside a phone seems like the worse idea ever.

     

    What??? Nooo!!! You see, it's gone be magical!!! :D
  • Reply 30 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kkerst View Post



    As processing power in ARM chips gets better, something has to give. Chips will either need bigger heat sincs or forced air cooling. This is something the Intel boys found out years ago and ARM is just now going through. It will be interesting to see how long they can live without cooling.

    Personally I think there is a limit to the amount of performance we can expect from a small package and battery size.


     


    Heat is the enemy, for both chips and batteries.  While it will be interesting to watch fan technology develop (I'd love to push one of those retina macs to hear how those new asymmetrical fans sound), I'm more interested in battery tech.  What if someone develops a cold battery that feeds on heat, effectively doubling as a heatsink?  Suddenly large battery sizes would seem justified.

  • Reply 31 of 53
    kkerstkkerst Posts: 330member

    [LIST=1]
    Right, but then the iPad might weigh 10,000 lbs...
    [/LIST]
  • Reply 32 of 53


    Hmmm..


     


    May be we will soon be able to use our iPhone's as hair dryer.

  • Reply 33 of 53


    Apple just submitted this patent to the patten office as an April Fool's day joke!  The patent office just released it either 7 1/4 months too late for 4 3/4 months too early!

  • Reply 34 of 53
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    atomac wrote: »

    Do they give a number? Normally thermal photos have a color / temperature scale.

    I don't see fans being used in phones and tablets. People whine about iPads getting hot, they might have gotten a defective one, or they're being needlessly hyperbolic. My 3rd gen iPad doesn't even get above slightly warm on me, and even the defective iPad 3s were nowhere nearly as hot as a normal laptop often gets, I wonder if any of those users had even used a laptop computer.

    I had an iPhone 4 suddenly run hot a month after purchase, I exchanged it for a new one and never had a problem in the two years since.
  • Reply 35 of 53


    Judging by how powerful these things are getting, this one doesn't come as a surprise. A decade from now, you'll be holding a server computer that's also a 4-inch smartphone. They're getting all too powerful.

  • Reply 36 of 53


    Originally Posted by zeromeus View Post

    Apple just submitted this patent to the patten office as an April Fool's day joke!  The patent office just released it either 7 1/4 months too late for 4 3/4 months too early!


     


    See, this is the kind of humor I like. Don't lay it out there—make me think; make me draw connections. 






    Originally Posted by jpadhiyar View Post

    They're getting all too powerful.



     


    "640k ought to be…" Well, you get it. They'll get more powerful. That doesn't in any way demand active cooling. Passive cooling is becoming ever more impressive, anyway.

  • Reply 37 of 53
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member


    This is a terrible idea. I don't give a crap about how powerful the CPUs are in the future. If they can't make it 100% quiet, then I'll happily take the fanless, slightly less powerful model. I can't stand fans and even the slightest noise is unacceptable.


     


    I'm currently on my Macbook, and while I think that it's a great machine, the fan is pretty damn annoying when it kicks in. Screw fans.

  • Reply 38 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BestKeptSecret View Post


    You'd end up with a paradox - a guy who is a fan of the fan will be an Apple fandroid!





    That's not a paradox. It just doesn't make sense.

  • Reply 39 of 53
    jnjnjnjnjnjn Posts: 588member
    Absolute nonsense.

    J.
  • Reply 40 of 53
    jnjnjnjnjnjn Posts: 588member
    apple ][ wrote: »
    This is a terrible idea. I don't give a crap about how powerful the CPUs are in the future. If they can't make it 100% quiet, then I'll happily take the fanless, slightly less powerful model. I can't stand fans and even the slightest noise is unacceptable.

    I'm currently on my Macbook, and while I think that it's a great machine, the fan is pretty damn annoying when it kicks in. Screw fans.

    MacBook Airs are quite (quiet) powerful nowadays.

    J.
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