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
The Galaxy A36 5G is Samsung’s 2025 mid-range phone. It offers a 6.7-inch 120 Hz Super AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, a 5000 mAh battery, 45 W charging, IP67 and a promise of six Android upgrades. Testing praised the bright screen and speakers; camera and raw performance barely moved from earlier generations.
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
The ROG Strix G16 G615LR is the Intel, RTX 5070 Ti version of ASUS’s 2025 gaming laptop. It offers the Core Ultra 9 275HX processor, a 12 GB GDDR7 graphics card drawing up to 140 W, a 240 Hz 2.5K display and a tool-less bottom panel. In independent testing the RTX 5080 version of the same chassis was liked for its bright screen and easy service access, while loud fans in games, no PCIe 5.0 and the plastic chassis were criticised. No verifiable owner reviews were found for this version.
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.
Phones · 2024
The Galaxy Z Flip6 is Samsung’s 2024 clamshell foldable phone. It offers a 6.7-inch 120 Hz main screen when open, a 3.4-inch FlexWindow cover screen when closed, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, a 50 MP main camera and, for the first time in the Z Flip line, a vapor chamber. Independent testing measured high screen brightness, while wired charging took 1 hour 38 minutes to full with the 25 W adapter. Owner reports from Turkey describe several different main-screen problems separately.
Tablets · 2023
The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is Samsung’s large 14.6-inch Android tablet released in 2023. It offers a Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor, an 11,200 mAh battery, an S Pen in the box and IP68 protection for both tablet and pen. Testing liked the long battery life and the speakers, and noted that no charger comes in the box. Owners praise the big screen as a second monitor and for drawing and find its size a burden to carry; some mention battery, keyboard detection and screen tint issues.