Smartphones are modern marvels, whether you’re talking about the classic iPhone 4 or the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. Today’s latest flagship releases feature dedicated cooling features like vapor chambers and thermal paste to keep those chipsets running fast even under stress.
However, all of that changes once you add certain accessories to the mix. Power banks and even certain cases can have a massive impact on your phone’s performance. What exactly is that impact, and what should you look out for when buying an accessory? Find out with this deep dive.
The Phone Case Heat Trap
CNET reporter Jeff Carlson has written extensively on the heat waves and their impact on phones. In most cases, you’ll find that users experiencing overheating phones were also utilizing suboptimal phone cases, creating a heat-trap situation.
How exactly does that work? It’s simpler than you might think.
Most phones are designed to dissipate heat passively through their metal or glass bodies. They rely on natural airflow and conduction to get rid of excess heat. That process gets interrupted as soon as you slap on a case that functions as an insulating blanket.
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Do All Cases Cause Overheating?
Absolutely not. In fact, in some cases, such as those featuring heat-conductive materials like graphene, can even fight overheating.
Overheating caused by phone cases is only really a problem if you’re using an excessively thick case from an unreliable brand and/or one that uses a ton of silicone or rubber. Over time, the heat generated by your phone in such a case just keeps building up and triggers thermal throttling, causing your processor to slow down and performance to feel sluggish.
In fact, you might have even noticed the thermal throttling effect if you’ve ever used 5G on your eSIM to stream a movie outdoors on an older phone!
Charging and Heat
As you might expect, charging and phone performance are inextricably linked. Charging naturally generates a ton of heat in the process that can be amplified significantly by accessories like power banks.
Standard wired chargers are fairly efficient, especially if you’re using a verified third-party or first-party charger. That changes the moment you switch over to a no-name alternative. Cheap, unverified chargers can overheat extremely quickly and potentially even damage your phone’s battery over time.
What About Wireless Charging?
Wireless charging uses and generates much less heat compared to standard wired chargers, but there are important considerations here, too.
Whether you’re on Android or iOS, you should know to expect slower charging speeds when using a wireless charger rather than a wired one. Older wireless chargers were even notorious for raising device temperatures, but that problem has largely been fixed with the Qi2-certified generation.
Power Banks and Charging Stands
If you’re someone who frequently uses phone accessories like power banks and charging stands, you don’t have much to worry about. Follow these best practices to safeguard your phone’s performance:
- Stick with certified third-party accessories.
- Avoid using accessories like power banks in hot locations to prevent overheating.
- Make sure your case is compatible with wireless accessories before using the two together.
Do Screen Protectors Cause Overheating?
The short answer? Not really. Any reliable screen protector, even a glass one, will have a negligible impact on your device’s thermals. The concern around these accessories arises because glass tends to conduct heat, but phones just don’t generate enough of it in most cases for a screen protector to trap it in.
If you do notice symptoms of overheating, such as bubbles cropping up, it’s likely just a symptom of your phone overheating because of other causes. Even Apple’s most inexpensive phones will handle heat dissipation through the aluminum components embedded in the device.
Keeping Your Phone Cool
If you’re dealing with overheating problems, you shouldn’t rush to ditch all those accessories on day 1. Keeping your phone cool ultimately just comes down to making smarter everyday choices.
For starters, opt for a case with ample ventilation holes and material that aids in heat dissipation, such as graphene. If you’re anticipating a day of intense usage outside, it might not be a bad idea to even go caseless or swap your rugged case out for a thinner one. Power users can even spring for a cooling pad accessory if they want to be absolutely sure.
Smarter Usage Habits
Everything else is about smarter usage. Heavy 5G use, gaming while your phone is charging, and allowing your phone to charge in a hot environment are all massive contributors to thermal throttling, devastating your device’s performance in the process.
It’s a great idea to move down to 4G if you won’t need the additional speed of 5G on a day out. Prioritize cooler charging spaces and definitely avoid using your phone to watch HD movies or play graphic-intensive games while it’s plugged into a charger.
Device Optimization
You can also consider making a few software tweaks if you’re worried about device heat and performance. For instance, enabling auto-dimming can be a game-changer if you’re someone who frequently uses their phone at maxed-out brightness (when it really doesn’t need to be!)
Similarly, you should always restrict apps that frequently use a ton of resources in the background, and stay on top of software updates to ensure your phone has the tools it needs to combat overheating.
Accessorize Smarter
Accessories are rarely the culprit when it comes to device performance issues. If you’re asking yourself, ‘Why is my phone overheating?’, the answer to those woes might just lie in making smarter accessory choices that improve cooling rather than hindering it.