There is still no evidence that one is better than the other
When reviews of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra hit the web earlier this month, some retailers reported that the device ran quite a bit while performing certain intensive tasks. Several teardowns of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra then revealed that Samsung shipped two different cooling systems: one consisting of a copper vapor chamber and another consisting of graphic thermal pads. Some users were understandably worried about whether or not to get the short end of the stick; after all, you would not have to worry about the end of the losing side of a hardware lottery if you spent $ 1,300 on a phone. However, there is no reason to worry now, as there is still no evidence that one cooling system is better than another.
To recap, iFixit confirmed the presence of a multi-layered graphite thermal pad during its teardown of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, as opposed to the copper vapor cooling system that Samsung typically used (and sold) in its older devices. As iFixit noted, there are still some Galaxy Note 20 Ultra models to do have a copper vapor chamber system, and there is no indication that the various cooling systems are tied to the region in which the appliance is sold. For example, Zack of JerryRigEverything had an international (Exynos) unit with a graphite thermal pad, just like iFixit’s US (Snapdragon) unit.
Vapor chamber cooling (left) versus graphene cooling blocks (right). Credit: iFixit
iFixit states that you do not have to worry about your Galaxy Note 20 Ultra having a copper vapor chamber or graphical cooling pads, though. To begin with, just because your phone feels hot does not mean it is actually overheated. If your phone feels hot, that means heat is effectively dissipated from the CPU and GPU. The cooling system is intended to protect the internal components from heating to dangerous levels, which in turn means that the components last longer and can also maintain peak performance for longer.
It should be noted that at present none of the complaints about the telephone overheating has been followed by a teardown to confirm which cooling system is in use. There is no other known way to confirm which cooling system is being used; the information is not displayed on the packaging, on the outside of the phone, in the software, etc. Thus, you can not attribute any observed problems with overheating to the copper vapor chamber as systems for cooling path of graphene.
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iFixit concludes that Samsung trusts both cooling systems enough to use them interchangeably. The vapor cooling system was something that Samsung was heavily attracted to a few years ago, but often Samsung saw that graphics cooling blocks are just as effective at dissipating heat, so they are comfortable using both systems. While Samsung has not yet released its own statement, Greg Kramer of iFixit, a thermal systems engineer, states that there is not much difference in performance between [vapor chambers] and the graphite. As long as you take the gap tolerance into account, it may be simple enough to swap them for each other. ”
Dual sourcing is actually common practice in the sector, especially when it comes to large volume products. Companies need to make sure they have a safe supply of parts to meet the demand for their devices so that they sometimes source parts from multiple suppliers to meet volume. This is not usually a problem because companies want to ensure that both components offer the same performance. If you think about it, there is no reason for a company to intentionally target some of its buyers – a substantial gap in performance would be disgraceful as discovered by consumers, as we have already seen from users who ‘ t respond to Samsung’s shipments of their (probably inferior) Exynos chipsets in certain regions.
Although Samsung’s marketing of the Galaxy S10 +’s steam room cooling proved effective, iFixit notes that the solution has some drawbacks, such as being delicate during installation and being vulnerable to swelling when heated slightly beyond its limit. . Notably, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is not even the first Samsung phone to have the alternative graphite-based cooling system, as iFixit notes that the system can actually be found in the first-gen Galaxy Z Flip. So if you are worried about which cooling system will end up on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra that Samsung is sending to you, then don’t be. If evidence arises that one solution is actually superior to the other, we will of course update this article with that information.
