Could Apple Inc. (AAPL) Use This ‘Hot’ Feature in Q4 and Beyond?

The major players in the smartphone industry are always looking for the next big thing. These companies are always looking to do something that will take the world by storm and push its market share to new heights. This holds true for companies such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung among many others.

While many consumers and investors pay close attention to features such as screen size and operating system, others realize that there is more to each device than that.

Digitimes recently published an interesting article, looking at the possibility that the top dogs in the smartphone market, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), could begin to use heat pipes in future devices.

Here is what the article had to say:

“Smartphone players such as Apple, Samsung Electronics and High Tech Computer (HTC) have started showing interest in adopting ultra-thin heat pipes for their smartphones and are expected to release heat pipe-adopted models in the fourth quarter, at the earliest, according to sources from cooling module player.”

While this may be something that is a new concept to you, some companies have already implemented this feature. For example, the NEC Media X06E is already using a heat pipe. With this being said, if Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and other companies move in this direction they will not be the first company to do so .

Here is why this may be necessary sooner rather than later:

“Since the conventional graphite plus foil cooling method is no longer able to dissipate enough heat in modern smartphone models efficiently, after 4G becomes a common transmission specification for smartphones in the future, the heat problem is only expected to become worse.”

NEC appears to have done things right with its smartphone using a heat pipe. With a diameter of only 0.6mm, this is far smaller than the ultrabook heat pipes’ 1-1.2mm, meaning that it will easily fit into a smartphone.

There are many manufacturers in this space, including Furukawa Electric, Chaun-Choung Technology, TaiSol Electronics, and Auras.

This could be something to keep an eye out for as the fourth quarter closes in and we turn the page to 2014. Whether or not Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is considering the adoption of this technology is anybody’s best guess. NEC has used heat pipes with success, and it only makes sense that this would get more consideration from other companies in the future.

Share your thoughts on this potential feature in the comment section below. Do you think Apple will get on board sooner rather than later?