Apple Intelligence reportedly causing overheating on iPhones

Last week, Apple began the rollout of the long-awaited iOS 18.2 stable update to eligible iPhones. The firmware marks Apple’s official entry into the realm of artificial intelligence for mobile devices with its Apple Intelligence suite. However, some iPhone users are reportedly experiencing overheating when using certain Apple Intelligence features.

It’s been a few days since the update rollout, and people are already starting to share their experiences of use. Unfortunately, not everything is positive, at least in some cases. Some Redditors claim to experience overheating when using Apple’s AI-powered features. Not all of them appear to cause this issue, but rather those associated with generative AI.

Some Apple Intelligence features causing overheating and poor battery life, iPhone users report

One of the most potentially problematic AI features on iPhones is Image Playground. This feature allows you to generate images based on prompts or transform images from your gallery into a variety of styles. For example, you can ask it to convert a portrait of you into a 3D style or a drawing. You can also edit the image by adding items or accessories. However, there are multiple reports of devices heating up quickly when using it.

Another feature that is causing problems for some is Genmoji. In this case, severe performance issues result in a stuttering UI, making it frustrating to use. It’s noteworthy that these reports usually come from iPhone 15 Pro/Max owners, while there are iPhone 16 users who claim that the feature works fine. So, it could be an issue isolated to the previous generation Pro models.

There have been reports of individuals experiencing overheating when using the Photos app. This time, the problem also occurs on the iPhone 16 series. Likewise, there are multiple comments about battery life getting worse after the latest iOS 18.2 update.

The potential causes of the problems

As we all know, AI-powered features consume quite a bit of resources. On Android brands, image editors based on generative AI often turn to the cloud to work. That is, the image you are editing is uploaded to the brand’s servers, and the options you tap are sent as instructions that the servers will apply and then “return” the processed image to you.

That said, Apple decided to maintain its commitment to privacy in the implementation of AI as well. So, the features based on generative AI work exclusively offline. Those most concerned about privacy will appreciate that no image leaves the device to external servers. However, fully on-device AI processing means that the entire workload falls on the hardware. In turn, this translates into extra heating and shorter battery life when you use said features. This could be happening with both Playground and Genmoji.

Maybe it’s time to implement advanced cooling systems in iPhones

Apple is also not among the phone companies that implement the best cooling systems on its mobile devices. The Cupertino giant has always relied heavily on the efficiency of its chips. It may be time for Apple to start using advanced VC systems on iPhones, especially when they decided to take the route of a fully offline generative AI experience.