The iPhone 15 models have been on the market for nearly six months and are currently in the hands of millions of users worldwide. When Apple launched the iPhone 15 models in September 2023, early users noted overheating. In response, Apple quickly rolled out the iOS 17.0.3 updates, which fixed this issue for the majority of users.
This update confirmed that overheating on the iPhone 15s was a software issue, not hardware. I also had a few overheating issues with my iPhone 15 Pro Max in the early days, but they weren’t as inconvenient as some users reported online. However, we are now more than six months into having the iPhone 15, and some users are still reporting overheating issues.
What users shared about the iPhone 15 overheating issue
One Reddit user reported that their iPhone 15 Pro Max would overheat just after five minutes of using the camera. This was still happening several weeks after Apple had released the update that fixed the overheating issue for early users. The Reddit user said that their brother’s iPhone 14 Pro Max wasn’t overheating even when its camera was used for several minutes.
Another user who purchased their iPhone 15 Pro just recently in January also reported experiencing overheating, claiming their iPhone was unbearably hot to touch when setting it up. He even said that he is willing to exchange the phone for another model that is not prone to overheating.
Another user on Reddit said their iPhone 15 Pro Max was heating up abnormally on the left side even after they had upgraded its software to the latest iOS 17 version. He went on to say that he had never had similar issues with his previous iPhone, the iPhone XR, which he upgraded from hoping to get a better experience.
Possible causes of overheating on iPhone 15
Thermal management issues
According to a report from NotebookCheck, Apple acknowledges that the iPhone 15 Pro models may run warmer than previous iPhones. This could be due to some changes in the design, such as Apple switching to a Titanium Chassis and making the back of the iPhone more repairable. Some rumors even suggest that Apple will use graphene in the heatsink solution of the iPhone 16 models to resolve this issue.
New iPhones tend to heat up more in the early days of use
It is also clear that most users who complained about overheating were mainly those who had just bought their iPhones. It is absolutely normal for the iPhone to get warm when setting it up or using it in the first days due to file indexing and the increased reliance on the internet to download apps. So, most users, including me, experienced this in the first days, but our iPhones went back to normal behavior after a couple of days of use.
Buggy software
For the iPhone to heat up, it’s also possible that some apps you use have bugs, leading to more background usage. Instagram was one of the apps that caused overheating in the early days of iOS 17. However, Meta resolved this with a quick software update.
What should you do if your iPhone 15 continues to overheat?
First of all, make sure your iPhone is running the latest version of iOS 17 and that all your apps are updated too. You should also monitor the apps that take up your battery the most by going to Settings > Battery. It could be possible that some random app on your device is using up a lot of power in the background, hence making the phone overheat. If the issue persists, contact Apple support for further help since your brand-new iPhone has a year of free hardware support.
