by OnePlus 11 concept
Credit: OnePlus
If you’ve ever wanted legitimate liquid cooling for your gaming smartphone, mobile vendor OnePlus looks set to provide such technology, at least in theory.
Just unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress, the OnePlus 11 Concept features a new development called Active CryoFlux, which definitely sounds like something plucked from Terminator universe.
Essentially, it’s a shrunken version of what you’ll find on any legitimate liquid-cooled gaming PC, complete with an adorable micro-pump and tiny attached piping that routes the phone’s precious liquid throughout the device’s frame to (supposedly) keep thermals down for long periods of time game sessions.
Here are the specific performance benefits of active cooling OnePlus claims:
“In lab tests, Active CryoFlux has been shown to lower your phone’s temperature while gaming by up to 2.1°C, improve a game’s frame rate by 3-4 degrees, or by 1.6°C while charging, shaving 30-45s off charge time.”
The bit about the frame rate is a bit confusing, since you usually don’t measure frames in degrees, but rather FPS (frames per second). Maybe it’s a typo, or maybe it refers to the frames themselves. Who knows. The world is an imperfect place.
In addition, 2.1 °C is not exactly sensational. In the grand scheme of things, it is a drop in the bucket when it comes to reducing thermals.
The OnePlus 11 Concept has a suitably ’90s-esque translucent back that shows off the fluid piping at work, and also some requisite gaming LED lighting that’s sure to get the gamer’s blood pumping, just like that micropump. Of course, this is just a concept product at the moment, so there’s no guarantee or even a small promise that this phone will ever see the light of day in terms of retail availability.
YouTuber Tech Spurt has a nice hands-on coverage of the strange device itself:
That said, another similarly themed OnePlus product, the 45W Liquid Cooler, could very well be on its way to stores at some point and appear much more efficient than the concept’s internal cooling setup.
Also shown at MWC 2023, the snap-on cooler claims to reduce the phone’s temperature by up to 20°C and has a separate, dedicated desktop unit to circulate the coolant. No release date has been given though, but you can check out Android Authority’s personal coverage below:
With the recent launch of the flagship OnePlus 11 5G device which – according to the press release – is capable of legitimate ray tracing on titles such as Perfect World Games’ Tower of Fantasy (via the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip) in addition to these recent moves towards traditional liquid cooling hardware that we’ve only previously seen on the PC and smartphone enthusiasts, it looks like OnePlus is really taking mobile gaming seriously. And it should, because mobile gaming is only getting bigger.
It’s unfortunate that the OnePlus 11 Concept will probably never see an official release, but I’ve spotted the 45W liquid cooler for my Genshin effect sessions.
