Apple says iPhone 15 overheating not a hardware issue, and a fix is coming
‘ZDNET Recommends’: What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET’s recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET’s editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Apple says iPhone 15 overheating not a hardware issue, and a fix is coming
Jason Hiner/ZDNET
Apple has confirmed that the overheating issue affecting the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro is the result of a combination of an iOS 17 bug and third-party apps.
And the good news is that it’s not some hardware design flaw related to the titanium chassis, and in even better news, the fix won’t affect system performance.
Also: I’ve tested dozens of MagSafe wallets on my iPhone, and this is one you should buy
Shortly after the iPhone 15 started to land with new owners, reports began to surface on social media and Apple’s support forums of overheating issues, some saying it was happening when the iPhone was charging, and others saying that apps such as Instagram were to blame.
In a statement to Forbes, the company said that while it is normal for an iPhone to “feel warmer during the first few days after setting up or restoring,” it had “also found a bug in iOS 17 that is impacting some users and will be addressed in a software update.”
This is good news for new iPhone 15 owners, some of whom have been experiencing temperatures that make the handset “difficult to hold.”
In a statement to Reuters, the company said that the iOS 17 bug fix would not reduce performance. This suggests that no throttling of the new A17 Pro processor will be required, and users won’t have to endure a drop in performance.
Also: Apple pro tips: The best new features in iPhone 15, iOS 17, and Apple Watch unlocked
But there’s also another bug. This one “involves some recent updates to third-party apps that are causing them to overload the system,” and the solution to this is hazier. Apple says that it is “working with these app developers on fixes that are in the process of rolling out.” This is interesting, since how apps access the hardware is tightly controlled by Apple, and this may indicate some bug in the Xcode platform for iOS 17.
No word yet on when these fixes will roll out to affected owners.
