Apple routed a graphite pipe through the iPhone Duo's hinge to dissipate heat
Apple's A20 Pro chip brings laptop-class power to the iPhone 18 Pro and the foldable iPhone Duo, but that performance generates serious heat. Dan Murray and Banafsheh Barabadi explain how Apple unstacked the DRAM into a wafer-level multichip module, built a vapor chamber three times larger than the iPhone 17 Pro's, and added a nanotwin copper display plate. For the Duo, a flexible graphite pipe runs through the hinge to move heat between the two halves.
It's a flexible material that needs to survive, as you can imagine, many hinge cycles while maintaining its thermal connectivity, and also its structural integrity throughout the product life cycle.
- Papazsazsa
A guy I knew was a mechanical engineer for Apple, did some really innovative stuff. The level of care and detail and attention they give to every element is like nothing you've ever seen. A good dude and was one of the best engineers I ever met but the pressure and the corporate games made him a permanent emotional headcase!
- GeekyBear
The High Yield YouTube channel has a good early look at die shots of the new A20 chip used in the iPhone Duo and discussion of the changes from the prior generations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8bxkCKNiuA
They have a similar video comparing the M6 to the M5.
- Surac
I have very bad experience with graphite heat pipes that are moved and bent. I hope they found a good way of ensuring elasticity over a long time
- ProfessorLayton
I wish they put this level of care into their software. It's pretty shocking how nice their hardware has remained, while basic apps like Music/Photos etc. continue to decay.
- ramsj
TIL product naming is still terrible. "Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6". Elite Extreme. 8 Gen 6. Who comes up with this nonsense?
- fnord77
Apple is sherlocking the "iphone xxxx teardown" websites