OnePlus presents a smartphone with a new cooling system that promises to be heavy for gamers.
“Gaming PC level” cooling built into a simple smartphone? This is OnePlus’ promise at MWC 2023. The manufacturer is presenting its OnePlus 11 Concept there, a derivative of the OnePlus 11 equipped with a new cooling system for even greater performance.
A light on the back for active cooling
From a distance, the phone takes up the design of the OnePlus 11 that already convinced us during our test. We find in particular this rather imposing and circular photo module on the back, or the 6.7-inch screen on the front.
The back of the phone, on the other hand, reveals the great novelty of the phone integrated under the chassis. The use of clear glass and a luminous back is immediately reminiscent of the Nothing Phone, but here the rationale is quite different.
OnePlus announces, in fact, that it has developed a new cooling system halfway between a passive system, without a mechanism, and an active system, which usually requires ventilation. The transparent back shows the cooling system.
According to the brand, its system should allow the SoC temperature to drop by 2.1 degrees Celsius in game, and 1.6 degrees in load. It seems little, but it is not negligible in this type of system. This temperature difference can help improve performance, stability, and battery life.
To achieve this system, OnePlus claims to have developed various technologies and filed dozens of patents. Two items seem especially important: Active CryoFlux fluid and a micropump. The principle is similar to that of water cooling in a PC. A liquid moves through a circuit from the chip contact point where it is heated to a distant part to be cooled. The circulation is carried out thanks to the micropump, which allows OnePlus to justify the term of active cooling despite the absence of ventilation.
Hard to judge before you can actually test the product with games and benchmarks. During our hands-on, the smartphone was as warm as a normal device, but that’s obviously not how you can test what OnePlus presents here.
The brand has not given us any further information about the marketing of this smartphone whose name OnePlus Concept suggests that it will not be coming any time soon.
Our journalist Cassim Ketfi is in Barcelona to cover MWC 2023 in its entirety, but is present as part of a press trip organized by Qualcomm.