iPhone 15 overheating fix: Does it affect performance like some feared?

Some owners of Apple's new iPhone 15 have faced a litany of issues with the device since its launch just a few weeks ago. Perhaps the most concerning was the overheating issue that many users reported. The iPhone 15 would get hot — really hot during setup or even when it was just charging.

Apple confirmed the problem and said it would release a fix to a bug that was causing the issue via a software update. And that software update is now here via iOS 17.0.3.

However, some experts said that the software update fix for the phone would likely involve slowing it down. 

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested that Apple would lower the performance of iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max's powerful new processor in order to deal with the overheating issue. Furthermore, Kuo believes the overheating issue is related to those iPhone Pro models' new titanium frame. However, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus have also experienced overheating issues and those models do not have titanium materials in their chassis.

Well, tech outlets 9to5Mac and Apple Insider have both put the new iOS update to the test to see if those performance degradation concerns bore out. Both reported that they saw little-to-no changes after testing the iPhone 15 with the iOS 17.0.3 update. 

It's still unknown exactly what Apple rolled out in the update to address the overheating issue. And it's unclear if the overheating issue has been entirely fixed with this update. When Apple released its statement on how hot some iPhone 15s were getting, the company shared that some third-party apps like Instagram were the culprits because they were not yet optimized for the new phone nor iOS 17.

But based on these tests from 9to5Mac and Apple Insider, it appears that Apple's iOS 17.0.3 overheating fix doesn't negatively affect iPhone 15's processor performance. And that's a good thing!

Now, we'll just have to wait and see if users who own an overheating iPhone 15 notice a cool down.