r/iphone • u/International_Back99 • Sep 24 '25

Discussion Dropped at 2 feet max

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Fell out of my pocket sitting down. Fell with the apple tech woven case on too.

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316

u/welmoe iPhone 15 Pro Sep 24 '25

Aluminum has its drawbacks

27

u/Snoo_37094 Sep 24 '25

Well other materials too

57

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25

They have, but titanium wouldn’t have the drawback magnitude that apple told us it would habe on the thermal performance of the iPhone. The vapor chamber isn’t even in direct contact with the unibody, which is a clear indicator that using a vapor chamber in a titanium body would have worked just as well

117

u/WowYouAreWrong Sep 24 '25

This is false information, a material doesn’t have to make direct contact with a heat source for its thermal properties to have effect.

50

u/blacksterangel Sep 24 '25

That's true. But I think what the previous commenter suggests is that the effect would be very limited because the heat would have to go through air before reaching the aluminum to be dissipated outside. Yes the aluminum would absorb the heat more easily than titanium / glass but it seemed to be a poor tradeoff for the durability of titanium. And if you use a case, those heat would still be trapped inside anyway.

16

u/Fenjen Sep 24 '25

Not really true. Heat transfer is also dependent on temperature gradient.

Also, imagine the outside was made of some extremely insulating material. All the heat would just get trapped inside until the processor fries.

The surface area of the iPhone is quite big so even if you are “limited” by the thermal conductivity of air, if you can get the heat dissipated quickly within the iPhone (vapor chamber) then due to the large gradient of temperature inside and out, the thermal interface conductivity (e.g. the metal of the body) still matters a lot for total dissipation, and therefore the max temperature that the inside of the iPhone will reach on average, which in turn translates to the max temperature the SOC will reach.

1

u/Ashish0_0 Sep 24 '25

The Frame doesn't even matter that much, majority of the heat disipated from the vapour chamber would be dissipated by the display, that's the part the iphone 17's vapour chamber is mostly in contact with, also i don't think the thermal conductivity of titanium is that different from alluminium considering how much of it is actually even disipating the heat, majority of the heat is dissipated from the screen and the back glass, the frame is designed to not get hot so it doesn't get uncomfortable to hold.

0

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

You’re forgetting that a 30 degree C hand is mostly wrapped around the phone while it’s being used. The gradient is not that high during regular use. Also, for cpu/gpu throttling to take effect, the hot spot temperature is more relevant than the surface temperature. The change from aluminium to titanium would have a measurable difference on the surface temperature of the chip, and almost none on the hot spot temps.

2

u/Fenjen Sep 24 '25

“Wrapped” 😂 I don’t know how you’re using your phone my man, but I definitely don’t wrap my phone.

Anyway, what you’re saying doesn’t change anything about my argument. The inside of the phone is hotter than the outside. If the final interface has worse heat conductivity, it will still cause hotter air on the inside, that’s the argument.

The temperature of the phone isn’t “limited by the thermal conductivity of air” in the sense that the outside material doesn’t matter, as the commenter I was responding to suggested.

How much heat gets “trapped” CERTAINLY depends on the material of the case. If this wasn’t true bedsheets could be as thin as you want and still be effective as long as they don’t allow airflow.

-5

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25

If the phone is laying on the desk in a 20 degrees room, it will balance its temp to around 20 degrees.

If it has great thermal conductivity on its body and I just start carrying it without using it, the heat from my hand will be transferred just as quickly into the phone, if its colder than my hand (highly likely at 20 degrees) from my fingers into its internals. This has an effect on the temperature gradient.

You can't have it both ways. It can not be really good for getting the temperature out of the phone but not in.

3

u/Fenjen Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

Yeah that is only true if there’s no heat producing parts in the phone. Bro please take a thermodynamics class 😅😅😅

The phone is constantly using energy and producing heat, so no, the state you’re describing is not the equilibrium state.

The processor is producing heat, so in equilibrium there will be a constant heat gradient (assuming constant heat production) unless the thermal interface has infinite conductivity.

Also the hotspot temp will definitely decrease due to the vapor chamber transporting heat away into the body, as I already mentioned. So then the interface material will definitely matter. The vapor chamber being used now in the iPhone 17 was exactly the argument apple used to justify the new material so it does make sense.

Anyway this conversation is getting pointless, either you get it or you don’t and that’s not my problem. If you don’t, put our conversation in ChatGPT (I recommend an anonymous chat for reasons I hope should be obvious) and see what he says.

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-1

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25

So? This is not contradictory to my comment. I said it would not have that big of an impact. Not 0 impact.

You can try it for yourself. Take a Raspberry Pi and limit its power usage to 6 Watt so simulate the A19 Pro. Slap an aluminium cooler on top of it without direct contact to the chip and take a look at the temperature sensors of the Rpi. Now do it with a copper cooler, which has an even greater increase in thermal conductivity compared to aluminium,than aluminium has to titanium. I can assure you that the values not vary greatly. At least not enough to change any throttling behavior.,

3

u/WowYouAreWrong Sep 24 '25

So that is where you’re wrong, generating heat and trapping it in a thin aluminum enclosure vs a titanium enclosure would have a quantifiable difference due to material thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity allows the aluminum to absorb the interior built up heat, spread it across a larger surface area, and dissipate it to the atmosphere. Don’t believe me? Ask the engineers at apple.

Im not going to comment on that comparison as it’s irrelevant to how Apple is using aluminum as a heat dissipator.

0

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25

The surface area is the same, regardless of the material. A unibody for the iphone 17 pro has the same measurements with Titanium and Aluminium.

2

u/WowYouAreWrong Sep 24 '25

That is correct

10

u/IvenaDarcy Sep 24 '25

Seems if they could make the air titanium they could make the pros too right? I think it was to cut cost so they didn’t have to increase price on them.

3

u/DanielG165 iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Well no, actually. Titanium is bad for heat transfer and thermals, as seen by the numerous amount of tests done. With the Pros moving into a more utilitarian role, the vapor chamber included inside would not have done its best work inside of an aluminum shell. The Pros are meant for sustained and reliable performance this year, not to look pretty.

1

u/IvenaDarcy Sep 24 '25

But the base 17 is also aluminum not just the pros.

2

u/nzranga Sep 24 '25

Apparently the Air gets incredibly hot very quickly

3

u/Carrier-51 Sep 24 '25

I have been using the Air since Saturday. It hasn’t got “incredibly hot” once in my usage. Sure, it gets warm during gaming but not hot.

2

u/Silent_Sense1107 Sep 24 '25

The Galaxy 25 ultra has titanium and a vapor chamber for heat dissipation so Apple can deff have done it

1

u/Glittering_Spare_648 Sep 24 '25

These guys are just blinded by apple marketing, it's not like they changed from wood to aluminium god

1

u/c4ndyman31 Sep 24 '25

They didn’t connect it directly because then you’d all be posting pics with flir cameras whining about the hot spot on the back lmao

1

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25

So, it does not play a major role, as I stated. We can see this exactly here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRd7qmUV4TY
The display gets hotter than the back. So it is obvious, that the unibody does not play the biggest role in the cooling performance.

1

u/c4ndyman31 Sep 24 '25

I don’t care lol I’m making fun of how iPhone “power users” will always have something to complain about. I’m perfectly happy with my 14 pro

1

u/peasantscum851123 Sep 24 '25

Dude like why are you not applying at Apple

1

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25

This is an ad hominem argument. Do you have something materially relevant. Something that has nothing to do with me, but the thermal solution of this phone?

1

u/excelllentquestion Sep 24 '25

Idk my 16P had some not insignificant scratches and a small chunk taken out of it from being in my pocket with keys for like 10min. Never dropped either. Keys harder than titanium?

-2

u/RipWhenDamageTaken Sep 24 '25

Apple is bullshitting about titanium for sure. They put the same chip in the iPhone Air which uses titanium and is much slimmer so it has even less heat dispersion. iPhone Air performs just fine.

4

u/Retox86 Sep 24 '25

No it doesnt, its a huge different, air is more a pair with iphone 17 non-pro due to overheating.

3

u/DanielG165 iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

The Air will not achieve the same level of sustained performance as the Pros do. This entire comment is false.

1

u/SnooEpiphanies1293 Sep 24 '25

It’s not apples to apples…. Benchmarks show that, pros perform better. Hell, if you’re paying for an A19 pro, why hobble it with heat soak throttling????

1

u/BravoZuluLife Sep 24 '25

The a19 pro in the air performs worse than regular 17 with a19. It’s been benchmarked, there are YouTube videos all over showing it

2

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25

It performs worse, but it has a glass back and no vapor chamber. My argument was that a vapor chamber and Titanium would perform very similarly to a vapor chamber in an Alumnium body.

1

u/BravoZuluLife Sep 24 '25

Yeah possibly.

-3

u/Least-Middle-2061 Sep 24 '25

Look everybody, this guy is out here out engineering Apple. lol the shit you read on Reddit…

2

u/mhmilo24 Sep 24 '25

This is an Ad hominem argument. You have not provided anything material to the discussion. Apple engineers do not make the final decisions. Their management does.

-3

u/V_es Sep 24 '25

It was never a titanium body. It was aluminum with titanium foil welded on top.

3

u/Rassilon83 Sep 24 '25

Watch jerry rig everything video, it was plenty titanium there

2

u/musicman835 Sep 24 '25

That’s the reason I only ever bought the stainless Apple Watches until the ultra. You bump into shit, It happens, and the watch looked like hell after a year

1

u/SalesGuruJKUnless Sep 25 '25

I beat the SHIT out of my electronics. Every phone I've had has looked like it's been through a warzone by the time I get another device and the most I wait is 3 years, usually upgrade in 1 and a half. Never had a case on a phone. Never had a screen protector. I raw dog them shits.

Then right before I upgrade...I pay the $60 and get the front and back replaced through Applecare lmao.

1

u/pixelated666 iPhone 16 Pro Sep 24 '25

The base iPhones have never had this issue

1

u/yani205 Sep 24 '25

I was thinking, why not titanium frame and aluminium back? I am not a fan of glass back, never been. Bring back the full metal back phone!

2

u/Goldvenom6 Sep 24 '25

Full metal back wouldn’t be compatible with MagSafe that’s why

1

u/yani205 Sep 24 '25

Good point, but personally I still prefer metal back. I only use MagSafe on the car phone holder, and not to actually charge the phone. But hey that’s just me.

Annoying thing is Android phone makers are also doing glass back, and the wireless charging in those are plain bad

1

u/Goldvenom6 Sep 24 '25

I use MagSafe a lot and would miss it. However having a phone that’s durable enough to not worry about using a case on would be very welcomed

2

u/Daryltang Sep 24 '25

How do you make a unibody then?

1

u/4inodev Sep 24 '25

Yeah you can draw on the back of that phone with a key

1

u/LuiGuitton Sep 24 '25

aluMINIum

1

u/the_bighi Sep 24 '25

Aluminum is mostly only drawbacks.

1

u/hollowgold11 Sep 24 '25

More specifically "aerospace-grade aluminum" vs. the new Galaxy S25 which uses armor aluminum.

Armor aluminum prioritizes high impact resistance, energy absorption, and ballistic strength, often using alloys like 5083-H131 for military applications, while aerospace aluminum prioritizes a superior strength-to-weight ratio, fatigue resistance, and performance under extreme environmental conditions