Xperia Z5 using dual heat pipes to control thermal performance? [Update]

We recently reported that the Sony Xperia Z5 appears to do a much better job with the Snapdragon 810 chipset versus the Xperia Z3+ that constantly suffered from overheating. The Xperia Z5 was able to run at least 10 minutes recording 4K video footage and could have gone on for much longer. We wondered whether this was down to hardware modifications or software optimisations. Now we may have part of the answer.

A picture that supposedly shows a teardown of the Xperia Z5 Premium clearly depicts that Sony is using two heat pipes and thermal paste to help dissipate the heat created by heavy processing. Sony first started to use a heat pipe in the Xperia Z2 and also used one in the Xperia Z3, but it only used a single pipe. We can’t say for sure whether the same cooling was used for the Xperia Z3+/Z4, but given the similarity in design, it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise.



Therefore the move to a dual heat pipe design would certainly help manage heat and thus improve the overall performance of the handset. It would be great if Sony Mobile detailed the improvements it made over the Xperia Z3+/Z4, especially given so much bad press over the last few months. Until then, we can’t say for sure if this is the reason why the performance has significantly improved (the picture only relates to the ‘Premium’ and not the ‘normal’ Xperia Z5), but it does sound credible.

Sony Xperia Z3 uses a single heat pipe with the Snapdragon 801 chipset

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium uses dual heat pipes, perhaps to control Snapdragon 810 heat issues

Update: Here is a teardown of the Xperia Z5, which also shows it is using a dual heat pipe solution to control heat.

Via Weibo.

Thanks Ben and LEOW_X!