Apple Has Patched the iPhone 15 Pro Heat Bug with iOS 17.0.3

New iPhone 15 Pro owners may be getting a reprieve from the heat wave, as Apple has just released iOS 17.0.3, promising to address the recent issues that have been causing Apple’s newest premium iPhones to sometimes run too hot to handle.

Only hours after Apple’s iPhone 15 lineup went on sale, several users reported their iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max units were getting far warmer than they should have been. Speculation ran amok as to the cause of the issues; some dismissed it as a normal “break in” period, while others pointed to users running benchmark tests that were pushing the new A17 Pro chip beyond its normal operating levels.

However, many folks found their new iPhones getting hot when performing routine activities like making phone calls or even just sitting idle. While fast charging seemed to exacerbate the problem, it wasn’t the only cause.

One theory that was put forward was that the new titanium construction of this year’s Pro models could have been radiating more heat, but that never made much sense as aluminum and stainless steel conduct heat equally well. Some pointed to the new 3nm fabrication process of the A17 Pro chip found in the higher-end models. However, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo quickly dismissed that, pointing instead to “compromises made in the thermal system design,” raising concerns that Apple may not be able to address these issues in a software update without throttling the A17 Pro chip’s performance.

Apple quickly responded to that claim, issuing a statement that the overheating problems were due to “a bug in iOS 17 that is impacting some users and will be addressed in a software update” and that the problem has nothing to do with the iPhone 15 Pro’s titanium design, which, if anything, actually provides better heat dissipation.

Apple also pointed to some third-party apps, including Instagram and Uber, that were overloading the A17 Pro chip, noting that it was working with those developers to help them resolve these issues.

Most significantly, Apple clarified that the software update it was working on would not reduce the performance of any iPhone 15 models.

Now, only days later, iOS 17.0.3 has landed with release notes that indicate it “addresses an issue that may cause iPhone to run warmer than expected.”

In case there are any concerns that Apple wasn’t being entirely upfront with its promises that there won’t be a performance hit with this update, several folks have already fired up benchmark tests after installing iOS 17.0.3, including those at AppleInsider and 9to5Mac, and have confirmed that everything seems to be just as quick as it was before applying the update.

It’s also worth noting that the overheating issue wasn’t as widespread as some may have feared. We have yet to encounter anyone in our circle of contacts who has experienced this problem, and several iDrop News readers have reached out to us on social media to let us know that they haven’t had any overheating issues either. Nevertheless, that’s a small consolation to those who were finding their new iPhones getting uncomfortably hot, and if you find yourself in that boat, then iOS 17.0.3 should provide a fix.

However, iOS 17.0.3 isn’t exclusive to the iPhone 15 lineup. Apple has released it for all iOS 17-capable devices since it also contains an important security fix for at least one kernel vulnerability that may have been actively exploited in the past. It’s accompanied by an iPadOS 17.0.3 update that applies the same fix to Apple’s recent iPad models.