iPhone 3G S: Too hot for its own good

This message appears when an iPhone 3G or 3GS becomes too hot.
[ Photo courtesy of Apple ]

PC World, Wired, and other media outlets have reported that the new iPhone 3G S models have been running a little hot—hot enough to turn their white plastic cases brown, according to Wired  .
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Apple Support has acknowledged an overheating problem with both the 3G S and 3G phones, when they "run certain applications in hot conditions or direct sunlight for long periods of time, such as GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight."

This problem may be limited to specific lots of phones, as such problems have not turned up during our tests, which are still ongoing.

Besides feeling hot, symptoms of an iPhone suffering from heat exhaustion may include a dimming display and a weak cellular signal. The most-obvious sign is an on-screen message "iPhone needs to cool before you can use it" (see image at right).

We'll keep you posted as the story unfolds. In the meantime, please let us know if you've experienced an overheating problem with your phone. —Mike Gikas

Comments

[Amy Antos]

Had my 3GS for 5 weeks now. Really bad battery life, drained in less than 1 day. Gets really hot sometimes. Yesterday while in my cool car, mind you it was 56 degrees outside, my phone had 42%, put it down for a few minutes, picked it up and it had a black screen, woulnt respond at all, tried to plug it into power several times in two hours, nothing. Later, I reached in my puse and was alarmed by something REALLY hot, the dead iPhone. Held it next to AC for a few minutes and then pluged it in to power and I finally got it to respond. How did it go from 42% to dead for two hours, to hot, and zero battery life?

[yani]

hey janet, the reason your phone got hot is because you were probably over charging it. that can be really the only reason to be quiet honest, and you really don't want to leave it on the charger once it is fully charged bc it will drain your battery or leave it extremely hot.

[Janet]

I bought a 3gs a month ago. Today, for the first time it got extremely hot. I was talking on the phone while the phone was plugged into the wall socket for recharging. Is this something you're not supposed to do? It was not a hot day, but the phone got so hot that I had to end the call. I unplugged the phone and it cooled down very quickly. I never saw the warning notice. How dangerous is this problem? Should I ask for a new phone?

[Matt]

I have a 3G and had this problem crop up about a month ago while listening to music at the pool. I do however live in Houston and it was miserably hot that day. Basically I brought it inside and it calmed down. I feel like if I had put it under a towel or something that it wouldn't have happened since it hasn't ever happened since.

[Drake]

I think it's funny people complain about the battery life. I got an iPhone 3G S in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and it's been incredible. The battery life has been vastly superior to that of my old Motorola V710 dumbphone, even when it was brand new. Since that phone was down to about 8 hours of *standby* before needing a charge, the difference between it and the iPhone is night and day.

My phone has only gotten warm once so far, after a few hours of heavy web surfing and other use. You can overheat just about any small computing device if you push it hard enough.

[Emily]

I picked up a 32 GB white iphone 3gs. It can get pretty warm, but I've never seen the temperature warning, nor have I seen any discoloration of the case. I do consider myself a heavy user.

[Michael Gikas]

Re: Typo in Headline:

Oooops! Thanks, nyc222. I caught it in Word, but I guess I forgot to "accept changes" in "track changes" mode. My apologies.

How's your iPhone, BTW?

[nyc222]

Mike, before you post you should check your grammar. "... Too hot for it's own good" . The correct form is ... its ....

[Rick]

Old bug. Mine will get hot doing nothing, randomly. Hot pocket mode! A reboot cures it sometimes.

Most annoying is the huge battery drain, and battery life on these is awful already!