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Samsung'southward Galaxy S7 packs a diverseness of new features and capabilities, too every bit some returning favorites, like a microSD slot. One of the more interesting aspects of the proclamation, however, was Samsung's declaration that the S7 would use liquid cooling. Typically, liquid cooling conjures images of an external radiator block and liquid reservoir, or at least an integrated close-loop liquid cooler (CLLC).

What Samsung is really using is known equally a oestrus pipe — and while information technology does involve a tiny bit of liquid, it's non "liquid cooling" equally we commonly use the term. Since smartphones don't include fans, the SoC'south cooling performance is express to how much heat its passive cooler can dissipate. Tablets often have ventilation holes, even if they lack fans, simply phones typically lack them. Apple tree uses layers of graphite applied to its processors and modem, as shown in the image beneath.

Image by iFixit

Image past iFixit

In that location comes a point, nevertheless, when a fabric layer lonely isn't sufficient. Microsoft also used a liquid cooler for the Lumia 950 and 950XL when it launched those devices, and we aren't surprised to see Samsung following suit.

How a estrus piping works

Oestrus pipes use evaporative cooling and a tiny amount of fluid — typically water — to offer superior cooling performance compared with using an equivalent amount of solid copper. A tiny amount of fluid is sealed within a pipe, with office of the pipe positioned over the components to be cooled.

LumiaHeatPipe

Microsoft's Lumia 950XL heat pipage

As the temperature within the piping rises, the h2o inside the pipe vaporizes. Since the vapor tin can't escape the system, information technology travels into the "absurd" side of the heat pipage, transitions back into a liquid, and flows downwards to the "warm" side again. The GIF below, courtesy of Wikipedia, shows how water is heated at the bottom of a rut pipe, rises to the tiptop, cools back to a liquid, and returns to the bottom of the heatsink.

How a heat pipe functions

How a heat pipe functions

Heat pipes don't just outperform a solid block of copper; they besides weigh less, since the pipage itself is hollow. Websites that refer to this equally "liquid" cooling are playing a bit with the truth — it's a technology we've used in CPU coolers for over a decade — but it does rely on a tiny drop of fluid within the copper cadre.

No such thing equally a gratis lunch

Smartphone companies are moving to prefer oestrus pipes because the technology should let for more sustained boost clocking and steadier overall performance. Smartphone workloads are typically modeled as short cycles with long intervals of rest between them ("short and "long" are both relative to machine cycles, not human perceptions of time). The VR applications and advanced functionality that companies like Samsung and Microsoft are targeting for next-generation devices make this approach a smart ane, and I suspect the estrus pipage exists partly considering Samsung has more aggressive plans for VR content than it did a year ago. That'south besides why pre-orders in the United states of america and Great britain will receive a free Gear VR.

Image from the first S7 teardown. Heat pipe boxed in red. Teardown by hi-tech.mail.ru

Image from the first S7 teardown. Estrus pipe boxed in red. Teardown by hullo-tech.mail.ru

The other reward of a heat pipage is that Samsung can position information technology to cool particular hot spots on the SoC dice. While the unabridged organization would still benefit from integrating a heat sink, even a oestrus pipe alone can improve performance compared to the graphite method Apple uses, whereas a copper plate would be too heavy. In that location are similarities to this approach and Intel's use of Turbo Boost — the smartphone cooler can deliver increased performance until the heat pipage becomes too hot to permit it. Turbo Boost is designed to give x86 CPUs a like reward by assuasive the CPU to striking higher-than-normal clocks for short periods until it exceeds a pre-programmed TDP or thermal trip point.

Await to run across more techniques like this used on SoCs as high-functioning need continues to grow. Large phones bought the manufacture a temporary sabbatical, since bigger devices accept more thermal dissipation space and allow for larger batteries, just the three-fashion fight betwixt device thickness, functioning, and battery life tin't take three winners.

Oculus has announced that anyone who pre-orders a Galaxy S7 and receives their free Gear VR will also be eligible to download six VR games with an estimated value of $50. Bundles will vary by carrier; specific information is not available at this time.