xMEMS intros the world's smallest fan with an IP58 rating, making active cooling more feasible in flagship phones

Phones with flagship SoC and active cooling, such as the recently launched RedMagic 9S Pro, have one big advantage over other top-end smartphones. There's a lower chance of them throttling down too much during heavy workloads, so they tend to lead in benchmarks. But active coolers make it hard for these phones to have an IP rating, which is why none of the RedMagic gaming phones have it.

But that could change thanks to the xMEMS XMC-2400 µCooling chip. This is the world's smallest fan, measuring 9.26 x 7.6 x 1.08 mm. What's more interesting is that even after being an active cooling solution, it features an IP58 rating, making it a suitable pick for manufacturers that don't want to sacrifice waterproofing for better cooling.

The small nature of the cooling chip also makes it possible for manufacturers to integrate it without getting rid of parts such as the headphone jack. Another interesting aspect of this xMEMS µCooling chip is that it's a solid-state cooler. That means it's silent and vibration-free.

xMEMS could come up with such an active cooling solution due to the company's expertise in solid-state tech. It was the first to bring solid-state speakers, which later brought out wireless earbuds like the Creative Aurvana Ace series (Ace 2  curr. $129.99 on Amazon). However, the company isn't the first to introduce the solid-state cooling solution.

Before this µCooling chip, Frore Systems introduced AirJet Mini chips, which also happen to be more capable than the offering from xMEMS. They can offer more cooling power thanks to being capable of generating 1,750 Pascals of back pressure. xMEMS XMC-2400, on the other hand, can generate 1,000 Pascals.

However, even the thinnest AirJet cooling chip measures 2.5 mm, which is over two times thicker than the xMEMS XMC-2400. Moreover, the solid-state cooling chips from Frore Systems are heavier and don't have the IP58 rating. All these make the new active cooling solution from xMEMS more feasible for flagship phones.

Now, while all these sound great, xMEMS has only announced the solid-state active cooling chip. The company will start offering samples in the first quarter of 2025, and it may take a good while to see the cooling solution being implemented in a commercial phone.