TL; DR
- Samsung could use vapor chambers in its 2022 series smartphones.
- The company used the technology on some earlier devices but dropped it on the S21 series.
- The technology would enable its smartphones to have better cooling and improved efficiency.
Samsung could reintroduce vapor chamber cooling in its 2022 series smartphones, a technology the Galaxy S21 series lacked. Per Digitimes Relying on supply chain sources, suppliers prepare for Samsung to develop the vapor chamber as the use of technologies like 5G increases again and chipsets grow faster and faster.
Samsung had previously used vapor chambers like 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 then. Teardowns suggest that not all Galaxy S20 and Note 20 devices came with the technology. The Galaxy S21 series has completely given up the vapor chamber.
What is a steam chamber?
A vapor chamber is a cooling solution that improves heat dissipation on powerful 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 becomes gaseous, cools and condenses and returns to the heat source via a secondary channel. Ultimately, this process, combined with the larger surface area of the chamber, allows for faster heat dissipation than a piece of solid metal or a smaller heat pipe.
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For Samsung, the advantages are obvious. Cooler smartphones are gentler on batteries. Lower temperatures would also mean that the SoC could be operated at maximum for longer periods of time, an important facet for gaming, benchmarking and video recording. As a result, you can often find vapor chambers supported by fans on gaming phones.
Steam chambers come with reservations. They take up more space in the case of the device. This is space that would otherwise be required for larger batteries, additional antennas or other elements. If you want the best of both worlds, you have to settle for bigger devices.
Don’t expect a Samsung launching this year to pack the tech, but after this review we could see vapor chambers on the Galaxy S22.