How widespread is the iPhone 3G S overheating problem?

Posted by Daniel East Jul 1, 2009 at 8:15pm

Apple is starting to get a lot of free advertising for their new iPhone 3G S models—unfortunately, in form of negative press. Yesterday, I was watching Fox News and they had a segment showing how white iPhones are turning yellow and brown from excessive heat. The reporter even comment that her iPhone gets so hot at times, she can’t even touch the screen. She feared if she put the phone next to her face, she would burn her skin.

Fox News called Apple to ask them for a comment on the issue and all Apple told them is that the iPhone has a built-in fail-safe mechanism that shuts the iPhone off when it reaches 113F. This is supposed to prevent it from meltdown or starting on fire.

So what exactly is going one with the phone that is causing it to get so hot? Some surmise it’s the batteries causing it, as you can see the outline of the battery on the discolored white cases. Others think it could be the OS 3.0 software in conjunction with the GPS causing it. Running apps for an extended period of time that use GPS could cause a high current drain, thus heating the phone up.

At any rate, it will be interesting to see how Apple handles this and if there will be some sort of recall. The fact that the batteries are soldered in the iPhone, would mean owners would have to exchange them. Fox News commented that if only 10% of the new iPhone’s were affected, that would still equate to over 100,000 needing repair, which could turn out to be very costly for Apple.

Apple has released the following “technical article” recently concerning heat and the iPhone.

Keeping iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS within acceptable operating temperatures

If you’re having heat issues with your iPhone 3G or 3G S, let us know about it here in our forums.

Burnt ‘pinkish’ colored iPhone back on Left

[Photo courtesy of iPhoneWorld|

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