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Apple: iPhone 3GS Overheating, Display Problems Caused by Sunlight
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Jason Mick/DailyTech
July 02, 2009
Apple has been having plenty of headaches lately with its MacBook Pro displays failing and experiencing distortion. Worse yet is the iPhone 3G S’s quality problems, which include reported overheating and signal issues.
The overheating was first noted in Apple support forums. Soon, though, writers at several tech publications — PC World, Wired, Le Journal Du Geek and The Telegraph — began to notice the problems on their own phones. The Le Journal Du Geek writer posted pictures of a white phone and noticed that the overheating was so severe that it colorized the plastic. The heat tended to turn the case pink or brown. Now, Apple has at last issued a response and it is assigning the blame for the problem on its users’ behavior, sunlight, and on the seasons. Apple says that leaving the device in a car on a hot day is one possible culprit causing its phone to overheat. Apparently, like a vampire the phone is no friend of the sun — Apple states that “leaving it in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time” may cause it to overheat. Apple lists the use of “GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight” as two particularly dangerous operations. According to Apple the following problems are the result of the iPhone’s overheating:
- - The device stops charging
- - Display dims
- - Weak cellular signal
- - Temperature warning screen appears with the message “iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it” (see image below)
Apple says that the iPhone is only meant to operate at temperatures between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F) and be stored at temperatures between -20º and 45º C (-4º to 113º F). Unfortunately, this is much lower than the temperatures experienced in much of the American South and Southwest.
Based on Apple’s stance it seems there’s no immediate solution for iPhone owners. Apple seems unwilling to agree that its hardware needs revision to deal with the problem, instead assigning the blame elsewhere — the sun, heat, and summer weather. And that means as summer temperatures heat up, users are left to prepare for the worst — their phones beginning to fail.
See also:
- Report: iPhone 3G S Smartphones Overheating
© 2009, DailyTech
TonyAKAMrClean
4 months ago
72 comments
Maybe if the internal components could operate at lower voltages, we wouldn't have these problems :)
TimC
4 months ago
586 comments
Well according to the other article this is possibly due to the newest firmware upgrade as the Ipod Touch 2nd Generation has the same "OverHeating" issues, so it's most likely due to power management as the article states, they just wont admit it yet, or at all for some reason.
wdr525
4 months ago
44 comments
@Tony: It IS Apple after all, aesthetics come first. I've never been a huge fan of Apple products, though I do have my share, but when things start dying, I look elsewhere.
TonyAKAMrClean
4 months ago
72 comments
This is nothing new... Cell phones, being made smaller and smaller... It happens. The more you do, the more power you use ergo the more heat you generate. It's not even the fault of the sun in most instances.
I just went through 2 HTC Touch Pro's (I'm now on my 3rd) where the keyboard stopped working. Why? They don't know. What do I think? Texting while the phone's charging, Watching YouTube while the phone's charging, using the camera while the phone's charging, etc and so on... Honestly, I think it's just the compact devices and the electronic strain. As much power as these things are using, heat should be better dealt with. They should focus more on heat dissipation when they're making the devices rather than only focusing on aesthetics.