Technology glossary
A thin sealed cooling plate that spreads processor heat across a wide area by evaporating and condensing the liquid inside.
A vapor chamber is a sealed metal enclosure with a small amount of liquid inside. At the hot spot (above the processor) the liquid evaporates, spreads to cooler areas, condenses and returns to the hot spot. Heat is thus spread into the chassis or heatsink rather than building up in one place.
Apple uses a vapor chamber filled with deionised water and laser-welded into the chassis on the iPhone 17 Pro, claiming up to 40% better sustained performance than the previous generation. Samsung promises smoother gaming and multitasking on the Galaxy A56 5G with a larger vapor chamber than its predecessor.
A vapor chamber spreads heat but does not remove it: in a phone the heat finally leaves through the body, in a laptop through fans and heatsinks. Under heavy load the surface can still get warm, and chamber size alone does not guarantee performance.
Phones · 2026
The Galaxy S26 is the smallest model in the series: a 6.3-inch 1–120 Hz AMOLED display, three rear cameras, 12 GB of RAM and Wi-Fi 7. In Europe and most markets it uses the Exynos 2600. Independent tests show longer battery life than the S25, but a clear performance drop under sustained load and slower charging than rivals.
Phones · 2025
The iPhone 17 Pro is Apple’s 6.3-inch Pro model. It swaps the earlier titanium frame for an aluminium unibody with a vapor chamber and adds the A19 Pro chip, three 48MP rear cameras with an 8× optical-quality telephoto, an 18MP square-sensor front camera and Wi-Fi 7 via the Apple N1 chip. Tests found better battery life and sustained performance than the previous generation; the anodised coating on the sharp camera plateau edges can wear from knocks. Owners like the camera, colour and battery life; a few report heat warnings while charging.
Phones · 2025
Samsung's 2025 flagship. It combines a 6.9-inch QHD+ AMOLED behind reflection-reducing Gorilla Armor 2, a titanium frame, a 200 MP main camera and two telephotos (3× and 5×) with the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy. Samsung promises seven years of updates. Long-term reports praise the camera and battery; PWM flicker, the fingerprint reader and the S Pen's lost Bluetooth draw criticism.
Laptops · 2025
ASUS's 16-inch high-end gaming laptop. It pairs the Core Ultra 9 275HX with an RTX 5090 Laptop GPU running up to 175 W, a 240 Hz Mini LED panel and two Thunderbolt 5 ports. Memory and SSDs can be swapped through a tool-less bottom cover. Tests praise the display and performance; loud fans, a smudge-prone plastic base and short battery life draw criticism.
Laptops · 2025
The OMEN MAX 16 is HP's 16-inch high-end gaming laptop. This configuration pairs a Core Ultra 9 275HX with an RTX 5080 Laptop GPU with 16 GB of GDDR7, a 240 Hz IPS display, two Thunderbolt 4 ports and two accessible RAM and M.2 slots. Tests confirm strong gaming performance; high CPU temperatures under load, short battery life and the 2.7 kg weight are the main limits.