If you’re looking for things to add to your “things you never thought you needed” list, then we’ve got you covered. It turns out that Oppo and sister company OnePlus brought a rather unique gadget to MWC 2023 – a 45W liquid cooler for smartphones.
This is, of course, the same OnePlus behind the liquid-cooled OnePlus 11 concept. This suggests that someone behind the scenes is a very big fan of this technology. Maybe someone important, though we can’t guess who.
According to the fact sheets displayed at the Oppo booth, a liquid cooler is a semiconductor-based water cooling system, with the ability to lower the temperature of your phone by 20 degrees Celsius (about 68 degrees Fahrenheit). Which is a decent amount of heat, especially if you plan to do any performance-heavy activities like gaming
The cooling system looks like a very large power supply attached to some kind of wireless charging stand, so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how the thing works. Of course, the Oppo and OnePlus variants are a bit different, for some reason.
The Oppo variant attaches to your phone magnetically, and the connector looks like a black disk attached to a long red cable. This Liquid Cooler model also works as wireless charging, delivering speeds of up to 10W. The fact sheet also says that it can work on almost any flat service, rather than just your phone.
The OnePlus Liquid Cooler has a small clip on the end of the cable, much like the ones you’d find on a car phone mount or some kind of stand. It doesn’t charge your device wirelessly as best we can tell, and it wasn’t clear if it worked on other devices. It’s not clear why there is a difference, though I wouldn’t be surprised if the lack of wireless charging support on the OnePlus 11 itself played some role.
I was able to try out the OnePlus variant, and the cooler started working almost as soon as I clipped the mount around a nearby phone. The difference in temperature was immediate, with the phone feeling noticeably cooler after being plugged into the cooler for several seconds.
Obviously, the liquid cooler will go on sale at some point. However, we have no information on pricing, availability, or even when it is likely to hit store shelves. Still, the idea of a powerful phone cooler is an interesting one, even if the unit’s size makes it seem a bit extreme. I’m definitely intrigued, if I’m a little skeptical.
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