Phone External Water Cooling Works But You Won't Want To Use One

Phones are getting more and more powerful and every high-end phone boasts of extreme gaming performance. Of course, those don't come without drawbacks, the biggest of which is the thermal output of the hardware. That's why phone makers also often boast of some sophisticated cooling system inside. But what if you applied some external water cooling like you would on gaming PC? Long story short, it works but chances are you won't want to anyway.

Gamers are quite known for tricking out their rigs with all sorts of cooling systems, water being one of the most popular. Of course, that doesn't mean spraying the electronics with water but using liquid to help dissipate the heat. Apparently, there are some people making and selling all kinds of water cooling solutions towards that end as well. Do they work or is it snake oil?

To test that odd proposal, Linus of Linus Tech Tips wen through the convoluted process of setting up a phone water cooling system. Like in the case of PCs, you need more than just the tubing. You actually need water and a way to make the water go through the pipes round and round. And, of course, forget about making it all look good.

The good news is that all that work is worth something. At least if you value consistent performance at low temperatures. Despite their promise of cooling, phones like the Galaxy S10 still throttle at a certain point, which drags performance down considerably until temperatures go down again.

Of course, the bad news is that you won't be going around with that water cooling system. Until the day such a solution becomes both portable and aesthetic, even gamers will most likely prefer some throttling over being tethered to a spot with strange tubing coming out of their phones.