- Samsung could use vapor chambers on its 2022 series smartphones.
- The company used the tech on some previous devices but ditched it on the S21 series.
- The technology would allow its smartphones better cooling and improved efficiency.
Samsung could reintroduce vapor chamber cooling to its 2022 series smartphones, a technology the Galaxy S21 series lacked. Per Digitimes quoting supply chain sources, suppliers are gearing up for Samsung’s vapor chamber development as the deployment of technologies like 5G begin ramping up once more, and chipsets grow ever faster.
Samsung had previously used vapor chambers on the likes of the Galaxy S10 Plus. The company claimed it improved the phone’s efficiency and performance. But it hasn’t appeared on every Samsung flagship since. Teardowns suggest that not all Galaxy S20 and Note 20 devices featured the technology. The Galaxy S21 series ditched the vapor chamber altogether.
What is a vapor chamber?
A vapor chamber is a cooling solution that improves heat dissipation on performance laptops, PCs, and smartphones. On the latter, they consist of a flat vacuum-sealed metal canister with a small amount of liquid inside. When heated, the liquid turns to gas, cools and condenses, and travels back to the heat source via a secondary channel. Ultimately, this process, combined with the chamber’s larger surface area, allows heat to dissipate faster than a chunk of solid metal or a smaller heat pipe.
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For Samsung, the benefits would be obvious. Cooler smartphones are kinder to batteries. Lower temperatures would also mean the SoC can be run at its maximum for longer periods of time, an important facet for gaming, benchmarking, and video recording. As a result, you’ll often find vapor chambers on gaming phones aided by fans.
Vapor chambers do come with caveats. They occupy more space within the device’s shell. That’s space that would otherwise go to larger batteries, additional antennae, or other elements. If you want the best of both worlds, you’d have to settle for larger devices.
Don’t expect any Samsung launching this year to pack the technology, but judging by this report, we could see vapor chambers on the Galaxy S22.