The iPhone 20 is ready to rub Samsung's nose in it with thinner design and great cooling

The iPhone 20 could turn out to be a pretty thin, sleek device that offers serious cooling capabilities—as you know, the excessive heat is your phone's enemy.

While your battery can deplete faster in the cold, when your device is too hot, the performance inevitably drops.

Apple's next year's phone will try to avoid that with a new vapor chamber system, all while slimming down its chassis.

The twentieth iPhone

Recent iPhones—especially the Pro models—are pretty solid in terms of sheer dimension. I don't mind that if it means a bigger battery… or a better camera system is housed. The iPhone 18 Pro could potentially cross the 10 mm mark, while other brands, especially Samsung, have put their phones on a strict diet.

Yes, but Apple already has a thin phone—and, more importantly for Cupertino—one that isn't a total flop like the Galaxy S25 Edge. Apple's iPhone Air isn't a market hit, either, but I've seen far more people rocking an iPhone Air than a Galaxy S25 Edge. It's anecdotal evidence, but still.

That's why we'll most likely get the iPhone Air 2 early next year, while the Edge experiment has pretty much ended for Samsung at the moment.

It seems that recent iPhones were thicker for a reason—and that reason is called the iPhone 20. The bigger the contrast with its predecessors, the bigger the (marketing) story.

Cooler than cool

Per the latest leaks, the iPhone 20 could offer an "Air-like" design and an improved cooling system.

The phone's chassis will probably be made of metal and glass and it could incorporate a mid-frame section, just like the wasp-waisted iPhone Air.

In there, a bigger (likely a 1-inch) vapor chamber would be housed. Just like the one in the iPhone 17 Pro duo, this system handles excessive heat and tries to keep your phone as cool as possible while you're deep in your gaming session or you're shooting the fifteenth consecutive 4K video of your cat for the day.

Nice move

Opposed to traditional graphite sheets (that can only conduct heat so fast before the processor chokes and forced thermal throttling sets in), a vapor chamber changes the game by relying on phase transitions. A tiny amount of liquid inside a sealed metal plate evaporates at the hot spot near the chip, spreads across the chamber and condenses as it cools down. And on the cycle goes.

Packing an even larger version of this mechanism into a razor-thin chassis allows the chip to run at peak speeds for far longer without suffocating under its own thermal output.

Apple is catching up

Of course, Apple is catching up to a reality Android manufacturers have embraced for years. Many rival flagships have long relied on generous vapor chambers. Now, Apple has to balance thermal dissipation against precious internal real estate.

If Apple manages to pull this off, it could mark a turning point where ultra-sleek design no longer demands severe performance compromises.

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