Apple, Samsung and HTC interested in liquid cooled smartphones

The Medias X NEC announced the integration of the world’s first-ever liquid cooling solution on a smartphone. Following that, manufacturers like Samsung, Apple and even HTC have started showing interest in the adoption of passive cooling technology on their devices. According to reports top tier companies have shown interest in the new cooling modules and it will likely be adopted on devices by the end of the year.


The liquid cooling solution or heat pipe as it is called aims at lowering the temperature of devices while they are in operation. The metal pipes contain a liquid that turns into vapor when it is heated, thereby transporting heat from one place to another efficiently. This system allows components such as the Processor and the graphic engine to run at relatively lower temperatures as compared to active or surface based cooling. All this returns better performance and helps improve the life of components as well.

The NEC Medias X utilizes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor that has a passive heat exchange system with a graphite radiator placed on the device for heat dissipation. The two are connected with a heat pipe system in which flows a liquid coolant. This system improves component and operational efficiency. For instance, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor is capable of running up to 1.9 GHz but due to heat issues manufactures are forced to clock it at 1.6-1.7 GHz.