The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max were criticized for poor temperature management and throttling during long-term use. However, a new software update from Apple seems to have resolved these problems.

Earlier this week, Apple released the iOS 17.0.3 update for new iPhones. After testing the iPhone 15 Pro Max with this new version of iOS, Chinese reviewer “Ah Zheng Too Tough” found that the phone’s performance and thermal performance improved significantly.

For example, the GPU score in Geekbench 6 increased from 27,163 in iOS 17.0.2 to 27,381 in iOS 17.0.3, while the CPU score remained largely unchanged. It may seem like a small difference, but gaming performance has definitely improved.

Playing Honor of Kings on an iPhone 15 Pro Max with iOS 17.0.3 resulted in an average frame rate of 116.9 frames per second (FPS), while the same game produced 105.4 fps on iOS 17.0.2. For comparison, last year’s iPhone 14 Pro Max showed an average of 103 FPS on iOS 17.0.3.

Additionally, during the game, the phone’s temperature dropped by approximately 1°C on the back and 0.6°C on the front. Other games like Genshin Impact and NiShuiHan also ran cooler after the update, with temperature differences of over 2°C. However, the reviewer did not share the frame rate figures of these two games.

Apple’s iOS 17.0.3 update appears to have improved the temperature management and performance of the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max. If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, we recommend updating to iOS 17.0.3 to enjoy improved performance.