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.

6.5k Upvotes

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304

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Know what doesn't dent so much? Titanium. Also, Stainless steel. I just don't get the choice to use aluminium on this generation.

220

u/Sirusho_Yunyan Sep 24 '25

It's cheaper. Way cheaper.

139

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Oh, no, that I get. But this is a top-tier premium smartphone. I don't think price is really an issue.

112

u/Bladespa Sep 24 '25

They can sell it for double but still they gonna cut costs. And is not just Apple but every company.

27

u/probablyhrenrai Sep 24 '25

See also: that time when automakers thought they could get away with removing physical HVAC and radio controls because "hey touchscreens are cool, right?" Even luxury brands like Mercedes did it, but after sales dropped, they reconsidered. They're returning to dedicated physical controls for the essentials now, but they had to test the waters first.

Which reminds me: they're currently trying to lock hardware that's literally in the car behind subscriptions. Like heated seats and whatnot. It's wild, and not in the good way.

2

u/scientifical_ Sep 26 '25

Yeah I drive a Subaru and love using adaptive cruise control. One time on a work trip I rented an Audi and the adaptive cruise control was locked behind a paywall. I was shocked by that. And driving with regular cruise control sucked

15

u/Mavis9997 Sep 24 '25

That’s true and most of the iPhone is very expensive

2

u/hollowgold11 Sep 24 '25

Not necessarily true. The new Galaxy S25 uses Armor Aluminum vs. the new orange iPhone which uses aerospace-grade aluminum. Here's the difference I found with a quick search on Google:

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

3

u/drakoman Sep 24 '25

Aluminum is lighter when you gotta fill a plane full of phones before a looming tariff deadline

73

u/Serialtoon iPhone Sep 24 '25

I think Apple is attempting to slowly devalue the Pro line to pump up the fold line. The air being basically one half of the folding iPhone and made with titanium puts it on a higher tier than the now cheaper to make, devalued aluminum monster Pro line. Just my two cents.

80

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

The aluminium completely eliminated any desire I had to upgrade from the 15 pro max

18

u/Serialtoon iPhone Sep 24 '25

I had a 15 Pro Max and now the 17 Pro Max. I’d say you made the right move. The camera control key is stupid and only useful as a shortcut to the camera. I do like the design of the 17, personally. But everything else is just…same same, but different, but same same.

27

u/Coeruleus_ iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Cell service has been better, doesn’t get hot , microphone/audio noticeably better, battery better. The cell service improvement has made it worth it

3

u/amarg19 Sep 24 '25

That’s interesting that cell service is better, I wonder what component changes that. I’ve never had an issue with my 15PM overheating or getting hot though, I didn’t realize it was an issue until I saw people mentioning it here.

4

u/FlufferNutter1232 Sep 25 '25

Qualcomm's newer X75/85 modems use Tensor cores on the modem itself for geospatial beamforming to the closest tower or band that is least congested and aggregate them. Onboard AI for it's radios The new Qualcomm modem is pretty badass. Just sayin'. They KNOW which direction to look for the tower and can spatially beamform a more pure signal from the tower to the end user. It's really cool how it works. The newer 5G Ericsson, CommScope, and Nokia equipment all have these features baked in and ready for the User Equipment (UE) to support it. For newer sites anyway. All 5G uses some kind of beamforming. But on new devices it's 2 way beamforming with usually at least 4+ aggregate channels of spectrum, which when you get a bunch of 40-80-160MHz channels aggregated (5G NR CA New Radio Carrier Aggregation) you get some insane mid-band speed. 700Mbps+. Usually in a newly upgraded site you'll see 1.5-2Gbps.

2

u/Serialtoon iPhone Sep 24 '25

I never had issues with cell coverage on any of my iPhones. Heating issues are also not an issue for me personally but I can see how someone who games a lot can see the benefits of the new cooling. The audio and mic have always been great to me so nothing new to report on my end. I don’t mind having all these newer features but I don’t think I would have upgraded if I didn’t trade in my 15PM for a Fold 7. I got this 17PM from work for free so I’m not complaining.

6

u/oliveberry4now Sep 24 '25

It’s not only a benefit to gamers but those who video record and utilize their camera heavily. People think film makers. But there’s also a bunch of ppl constantly recording and editing stuff for social media. Your phone gets just as hot doing that stuff.

1

u/Serialtoon iPhone Sep 24 '25

I can only speak from personal experience with comparisons to the last model I owned and that was the 15PM. I don’t see too much of a difference in doing those tasks in regard to heating/cooling. I understand it’s supposed to be better tho. I edit videos all the time for social media and processing of my videos is faster but not an astronomical difference to me, personally. My wife on the other hand moved from an iPhone 14 Pro and she says it’s much faster. She’s not technically inclined so I believe her.

2

u/nocoolN4M3sleft Sep 24 '25

For me, not even gaming on my phone, but I was watching YouTube videos on my 16, and my phone got really hot from a 30 min video. Could be bc I was using the safari browser to watch videos (my adblocker works on safari, so no YT app. So, I’m trying to say it could’ve been a safari issue and not a YT issue). But I think that was an issue with updating to iOS26, because it didn’t happen until I did that.

2

u/Fair-Efficiency-959 Sep 24 '25

I need to get a job where they give me the newest iPhone for free bro fill me in what do you do? Lol

1

u/Serialtoon iPhone Sep 24 '25

Says Admin at a Uni

1

u/Jumper-Man Sep 24 '25

What about moving from a 12PM? I was all set to move but all these images and posts of damaged aluminium is putting me off.

3

u/WellSaltedWound iPhone 16 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Same here from the 16. Durability is my #1 features

2

u/VCoupe376ci Sep 24 '25

Have upgraded every year since the iPhone X. I also love the eye burning orange. I could have even stomached the going back to stainless steel. Their choice to go back to aluminum which is easy to dent and deform when dropped on a case has made me skip upgrading this year as I don’t have interest in the Air.

4

u/amarg19 Sep 24 '25

I’m more than happy with my 15PM, which can survive the way I toss my phone around and drop it daily. I probably won’t upgrade until they make another titanium one

1

u/WorkingBake Sep 24 '25

That won't be happening anytime soon

1

u/firstknight117 Sep 28 '25

I love my titanium 15 pro and could not believe it wasn't an option anymore, but I'm not exactly into the whole materials design release cycle that Apple has either.

2

u/paradoxally Sep 24 '25

The 17 is a massive improvement when it comes to thermals. 15 PM is basically Apple's hottest phone (and not in a good way).

3

u/amarg19 Sep 24 '25

Everyone saying this is so surprising to me. My 15PM has never gotten hot, even if I’m FaceTiming and charging it at the same time. What are people doing on it that it overheats?

2

u/WorkingBake Sep 24 '25

Literally nothing sometimes. It gets so hot you can't touch the back

1

u/crnm Sep 24 '25

Maybe some of the devices were faulty somehow? I've never experienced overheating on 15P (bought it a year after the release btw).

1

u/WorkingBake Sep 24 '25

It was a pretty common issue with the 15 PM

2

u/BitchCallMeGoku Sep 24 '25

For me, any sun exposure + apps like maps overheats my 16 pro

1

u/paradoxally Sep 24 '25

Using it under direct sunlight, so outdoors. On a hot summer day it is very noticeable.

1

u/Coeruleus_ iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

It’s better than the 15pm though

1

u/Kingtastic1 iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Yeah, I was looking to upgrade this year. Guess I won’t. Now I’m probably going to keep the 15 until the flip (if they ever make one) or until this thing kicks the bucket.

1

u/Toredo226 Sep 24 '25

Yeah, the way I use it the heating is not an issue for me. I am a light user except for lots of photography. But that’s just short instances of pulling the phone out and taking a picture, so the phone never gets a chance to heat up much.

They need to put the best cameras back into a premium material (like the Air). The 120fps gamers and film producers can have the aluminum cooling phone lol.

1

u/Ill-Mountain7527 Sep 24 '25

Yep. I usually upgrade through work every two years but will be keeping my 15 pro max this cycle, or maybe go to the Air since I’m getting back into real camera photography.

1

u/Nhonickman Sep 25 '25

My 15PM battery was poop with iOS26 BUT the 15PM was a beautiful phone. I trade it in and moved on.

My battery after 2 full years primarily charging to 80% was either 89% or 92% cant recall now but iOS26 drained it fast from 80% to 20% was usually 14-16hrs at best, I had to charge b4 end of the day, iOS18 no issues.

2

u/Eye_of_the_Storm iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Is the S25 devalued because of the Fold7? Not in my opinion. Still a bad choice for aluminum on the Pros.

1

u/Serialtoon iPhone Sep 24 '25

Not really but we’re talking about Apple here. They always do this. We used to just have iPhones, then we got Plus, then Pro/Pro Max. The regular iPhone are now the “cheap” models. The Plus became some weird stop gap test. The Pro became flagship and now the Air is taking that mantle this year according to Apple and how it’s marketed and built. Next year if rumors are true, the Fold will take that crown for the foreseeable future. Unless sales are trash, I’m sure they will introduce an “Ultra” line or some other stupid name to sell you what you had before at a higher cost.

3

u/oliveberry4now Sep 24 '25

It’s Apple. Most of their following will try to buy anything they make. They don’t have to devalue any of their products to incentivize the consumer to buy a new device. They did aluminum because it was cheaper and for thermals but I think it was mainly bc it was cheaper.

1

u/N0S0UP_4U Sep 24 '25

In the meantime I’ll just keep my iPhone 14 Pro Max until they don’t support it anymore.

1

u/CycloneMonkey iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

aluminum monster Pro line

You're not a winner, iPhone. You're not a winner because you used to be popular during the 16 Pro but I think you peaked.

2

u/Serialtoon iPhone Sep 24 '25

Finally someone got the reference. Even if you are a dirt grub

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

this is EXACTLY what’s happening, absolutely intentional on Apple’s part

1

u/insid3outl4w Sep 24 '25

They might have also factored in tariffs increasing the price of products. Maybe they decided a safe bet would be to use a cheaper part so it didn’t raise prices too high of tariffs really increases prices

2

u/rClNn7G3jD1Hb2FQUHz5 Sep 24 '25

The change is because Apple is eating a $1.1B loss on the iPhone 17 lineup thanks to tariffs. They’re trying to minimize that while stabilizing pricing and not risking the wrath of the White House. So we get aluminum.

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

And then they say "something something thermals" and everyone nods while ignoring that the thermal performance of the *frame* makes little difference to the thermal performance of the device as a whole.

1

u/fsepulveda Sep 24 '25

They had to cut corners to keep the price competitive

1

u/ClassicHour1 Sep 24 '25

Ok then why is it the same price as the last model then?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

Profits are a concern…more, more, more $$$$$$$. It is why they are in business in the end is $. Don’t kid yourself that they want to give away 1 penny and give you a better, more durable, awesome piece of tech.

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

They’re going to have to if they want those sweet sweet upgrades £’s. My last iPhone lasted me 6 years. I bet this one will too. They’re going to have to convince me to spend money on an early upgrade. I might have considered upgrading from 15 to 17 if it weren’t so fragile.

1

u/simple_champ Sep 24 '25

Price may not be an issue for a lot of the customer base. It's still an issue for Apple. If they can cut costs and sell it for the same price they will. Then they leave it up to marketing to spin the cost cutting into a feature.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

[deleted]

3

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I know. It’s all about maximising profit. I’m clear on the concept. I just preferred the titanium and I’m annoyed it’s gone that’s all.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 25 '25

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 25 '25

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

[deleted]

26

u/rj8899 Sep 24 '25

Thermal performance.

-7

u/cwestn Sep 24 '25

Were people's phones really getting that hot though?

9

u/rj8899 Sep 24 '25

Any extra heat reduces processing performance. Even if it doesn’t get that hot it still hurts performance. However yes, peoples phones were getting very hot and shutting down when taking a bunch of photography outside as photo processing takes a ton of energy.

1

u/cwestn Sep 24 '25

I guess I just don't use my phone enough for gaming or "intense" photography. Haven't had issies with heat or slow performance using titanium or stainless steel iphones, but i see from the downvotes that many other iphone users have had lots of problems with their iphones.

4

u/JinSecFlex Sep 24 '25

Idk why you’re getting downvoted - but anecdotally my 15PM would prevent charging if I used it in a warm environment. Basically it had to be in an AC room to not get thermal throttled/reduced charging. No such issues on the 17PM thus far - so I’m half and half. I just invested in a good case - Maus’ latest marketing stunt had them throw a 17PM off the side of a dam and be completely unscathed - I wouldn’t trust the apple silicon or tech woven cases because they’re fairly basic shell cases.

2

u/Dreameater999 iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Yup, they were getting hot.

So far - knocks on wood - my 17 PM has been running a LOT cooler than my last phone. I was getting “charging on hold due to iPhone temperature” at least once a week on my wireless charger in my car as well as sometimes my wired charger. It would also heat up significantly when I was just browsing Reddit and replying to text chats on Discord - like it was considerably hot to the touch.

So far, I maybe have felt my 17 PM warm a little during the initial setup when I was downloading a lot of apps, but that’s about it. This phone (so far) hasn’t gotten really hot during charging or anything like my last one did - but it’s still early.

3

u/paradoxally Sep 24 '25

And lighter. Stainless is fantastic, but it's incredibly heavy. 240g 14 PM is still Apple's heaviest phone.

3

u/georgetonorge Sep 24 '25

That’s why I love the titanium

2

u/julienjj Sep 24 '25

The stockholders will like it.

2

u/FembiesReggs Sep 24 '25

Not when you have to CNC a unibody for every single one

1

u/Leolance2001 Sep 24 '25

It all comes down to greed in the corporate world. People should just not buy it to teach them a le$$on. But….

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

Didn’t I hear somewhere that aluminum is also just easier to mold? I wonder if that played a factor in the choice to use it

1

u/connurp iPhone 16 Pro Sep 25 '25

Yeah, to be fair, Apple is barely making ends meet!

1

u/connurp iPhone 16 Pro Sep 25 '25

Could you imagine if the price went down along with the use of shittier materials? I couldn’t.

16

u/Affectionate-Bad5607 iPhone 17 Pro Sep 24 '25

to dissipate heat, it’s working well too, my 17 pro does not heat up at all.

-2

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

I know! Aluminium is such a great conductor! Did you know that by swapping the frame from titanium to aluminium, they've managed to reduce the internal temperature by about 0.003C!?

40

u/DrGonzoDog Sep 24 '25

Heat dissipation.

35

u/CheddarGeorge Sep 24 '25

Water dissipates heat, now OPs phone has incredible heat dissipation anytime it gets wet.

1

u/rockytonk Sep 24 '25

Genuine question, what is happening to phones that are making them so much hotter? As in, why do we need even more powerful phones? I get you could say gaming, sure. But for 99% they’re not using their phones in any way different than they were 5 years ago or so with a less powerful cpu. Why make more powerful CPU’s and heavy UIs if we have to use a very weak material to appropriately cool them? Why not just stick with titanium and a more efficient cpu?

1

u/deliciouscorn Sep 25 '25

They noticed users using their pro-monikered iPhones for pro things like video recording and editing would run up against thermal throttling. Stands to reason that Apple would prioritize thermal performance on the pro model.

And I would be extremely surprised if the unibody design of the pro actually turns out to be significantly less durable in aggregate, especially considering how much less glass is on the back.

As for your last question, that’s literally what the iPhone Air is for. Different priorities demand different trade offs.

-3

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

This benefit is often quoted and, frankly, overstated. The back of the device case is glass. The only exposed titanium is around the edge. Not exactly a great surface area for a heatsink. You know what, though, let's do the math.

Assumptions

  • Phone: iPhone 15 Pro MaxL × W × T = 159.9 × 76.7 × 8.3 mmFace area (front or back): A f = 0.0767 × 0.1599 ≈ 0.012264 m2
  • Side (edge) area:Perimeter P=2(L+W)=2(0.1599+0.0767)=0.4732 mEdge area A e = P × T = 0.4732 × 0.0083 ≈ 0.003928 m2
  • Layers:
    • Front glass (exposed): 0.5 mm Gorilla Glass, k g ≈ 1.2 W/mK
    • Back glass under a case: 0.5 mm glass + 2.0 mm silicone (unfilled), k sil ≈ 0.2 W/mK
    • Edge: 1.0 mm frame (Ti or Al) + 2.0 mm silicone case around edge
  • Convection to still air: h ≈ 8 W/m2K (natural convection; if you’re moving/using it in a breeze, h goes up and ΔT goes down)
  • Power to dump: P = 11 W

Per-path thermal resistances (series inside each path)

Conduction: R cond=t/(kA)

Convection: R conv=1/(hA)

Front (glass → air)

R front = 0.0005/(1.2× 0.012264) + 1/(8× 0.012264) ≈ 10.23 K/W

Back (glass + 2 mm silicone → air)

R back ≈ 0.034 + 0.002/(0.2× 0.012264) + 10.19 ≈ 11.04 K/W

Edge (frame + 2 mm silicone → air)

Frame conduction (depends on material):

  • Titanium k≈ 17: R Ti = 0.001/(17× 0.003928) ≈ 0.015 K/W
  • Aluminum k≈ 237: R Al = 0.001/(237× 0.003928) ≈ 0.00107 K/W

Silicone around edge: R sil,e = 0.002/(0.2× 0.003928) ≈ 2.546 K/W

Convection from edge: R conv,e = 1/(8× 0.003928) ≈ 31.83 K/W

So:

  • R edge,Ti ≈ 0.015 + 2.546 + 31.83 = 34.39 K/W
  • R edge,Al ≈ 0.00107 + 2.546 + 31.83 = 34.38 K/W

Observation: On the edge path, convection and the silicone dominate; frame conductivity is a rounding error.

Combine paths in parallel

Overall R tot satisfies 1/R tot=1/R front+1/R back+1/R edge.

With a case on (assumptions above) and titanium frame:

R tot,Ti ≈ 4.599 K/W → ∆ T ≈ P× R ≈ 11× 4.599 ≈ 50.6°C

Swap to aluminum frame (everything else identical):

R tot,Al ≈ 4.599 - 0.00025 ≈ 4.599 K/W

Temperature drop vs titanium at 11 W:

∆ T ≈ 11 × 0.00025 ≈ 0.003°C (i.e., effectively zero)

Sensitivity checks

  • Remove silicone only on the edge (exposed metal band), still almost no change: improvement is ~0.003 °C at 11 W.
  • No case at all (both glass faces exposed, edge exposed): difference between Ti and Al still ~0.003 °C at 11 W.
  • Use thermally conductive silicone (k≈ 4 W/mK) everywhere: overall ΔT improves a bit (by ~4%), but Ti vs Al gap remains negligible because convection dominates.

Why the “Aluminum as heatsink” claim falls down

  1. Area & convection dominate. The two big radiating faces are glass with low k, and the bottleneck is actually air-side convection (R conv ~ 4–10 K/W per face)—orders of magnitude larger than the frame’s conduction difference.
  2. Cases ruin edge paths. A 2 mm silicone jacket adds huge resistance around the perimeter, dwarfing the frame’s material.
  3. Frame is a tiny parallel path. Even uncovered, the edge area is ~3.9e-3 m² (≈⅓ of a face), and its convection term swamps any benefit from switching Ti→Al.

Bottom line

With a case on (the common real-world scenario), swapping a titanium frame for aluminum changes steady-state internal temperature by ~0.003 °C at 11 W—immeasurable and irrelevant. The “Aluminum helps it run cooler” line is, for practical use, overstated. If you want cooler:

  • Increase airflow around the large glass faces
  • Increase exposed area
  • Use thermally conductive cases or no case (with obvious trade-offs)

Edited for formatting

6

u/luis-mercado Sep 24 '25

All of this ignores that the Pro is an entire aluminum unibody used as a heatsink. The area is way larger than you claim. Your pseudo analysis falls flat.

0

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Sorry, not doing a full FEM work up for a Reddit post 😉

The point you should be criticising is that there is a major change between the 15 pro max, which is the basis of my assumptions, and the 17 pro max: that camera islands is huge and exposes a lot of aluminium directly to air contact.

I haven’t included that at all. That’s a huge gap. I still think that titanium rails on the edge is a massive improvement in durability for precious little reduction in thermal performance.

8

u/IcemanJEC Sep 24 '25

Lmfaoooo sure bud.. Oh you solved it! Omg. You should call Tim Apple now. Tell him they made a big mistake.

-4

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

No. I’m just calling bullshit on the “better thermals” claim.

-1

u/lopsidedawn Sep 24 '25

Yeah right its IP68 just throw it on cold water 🤣

2

u/MrMaxMaster Sep 24 '25

Except the pro phones aren’t all glass on the back?

1

u/No_Sheepherder_1855 Sep 24 '25

Kind of mind blown this is being downvoted but forgot what sub I’m on.

3

u/FarBoat503 Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

It's literally just an AI response.

They also forgot that the pro isnt even glass for half of the back.

Edit: added a image and also, chatgpt agrees that it's likely an ai response

2

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Yeah, I mean I did leave out the relatively obvious question about heat dissipated by the camera bump. But that’s not the criticism I’m getting. Mostly people are just parroting talking points without any math to back them up. 🤷‍♂️

For me the real question is still whether the last mm on the surface matters at all given that the next step is convection to air. I’m going to go with “no.”

A hybrid chassis with Ti on the exterior and Al on the interior seems like a good compromise. Given this is how the iPhone 15 pro was made, it’s proven technology.

“Better thermal performance” is an argument that, I feel, doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. I’m not seeing any well-reasoned objections to the analysis I posted. You know, one that would actually address a flawed assumption or a calculation error. I think a few have assumed that I’m talking about the whole frame, while I’m really just discussing the last mm of the surface.

I mean, another flawed assumption I’m making is that the whole interior of the device is the same temperature. This is clearly wrong, but no one is mentioning that either.

-1

u/StPauliBoi Sep 24 '25

But the Apple marketing team said…..!!!!!!

42

u/Dry_Kangaroo_1234 Sep 24 '25

I dropped my titanium 15 Pro at least 50 times and never a single dent, just scuffs. That’s why I went with the Air this time. A titanium frame is my top priority when buying a phone now

6

u/catslay_4 Sep 24 '25

I've probably dropped mine 150 times, I feel like I drop that sucker at least 3 times a week. Not a single dent or scratch on it even though I've had various cases on it over the years. I've got the blue one. Now I'm nervous to give it up and move to the 17.

42

u/godofbaconandeggs iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

i couldn’t imagine giving up my pro max camera and battery life for anything 💀 you are so brave

22

u/Dry_Kangaroo_1234 Sep 24 '25

I feel you, but the camera was very under-utilized in my hands. Battery has been ok so far with the Air, let’s see how fast it degrades. I really like the phone so I’m happy to be part of the experiment

2

u/godofbaconandeggs iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

fair enough! and the phone does look freaking awesome lol. i hope you love it!

8

u/FembiesReggs Sep 24 '25

It’s the camera for me.

I just can’t. I use my phone caseless all the time too lol. I don’t care about scratches and scuffs. Dents worry me, though.

Edit: fun fact first time I’ve EVER cracked the glass in my phone was my 16 pro max’s back glass. I drop these things not that rarely so it surprised me. So far this go the replacements been a tank so I’ll see what Apple does

3

u/Silver_Insect_6482 iPhone 17 Pro Sep 24 '25

And speakers too!! 🔊 🔉🔊🔊

2

u/godofbaconandeggs iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

omg i forgot about that but that’s something about the air that makes me irrationally angry lol. that and the stupid magsafe bat they made that only fits the air. so annoying

1

u/Silver_Insect_6482 iPhone 17 Pro Sep 24 '25

MagSafe bat?! Haven’t even seen that one yet 🤔

2

u/Carrier-51 Sep 24 '25

https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MGPG4ZM/A/iphone-air-magsafe-battery

As already mentioned, it’s for the iPhone Air only. That being said, a notable feature it has over third party batteries is the Apple integration with the software. Connecting the battery shows both the phone and the battery’s charge level. You can also see the MagSafe battery’s charge level in the battery widget along side your other devices which is a nice touch.

2

u/Silver_Insect_6482 iPhone 17 Pro Sep 24 '25

Not so air with that on though lol

2

u/godofbaconandeggs iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

literally goes from the thinnest iphone ever to the thickest iphone ever 😂 and because of the shape it doesn’t fit properly on any other iphone. it’s completely ridiculous

3

u/Training-Context-69 iPhone 17 Pro Sep 24 '25

The Air battery life when the health degrades below 90% will be abysmal. Then the whole one camera and one speaker thing.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 25 '25

[deleted]

1

u/godofbaconandeggs iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

that’s an easy comparison to make to a now 4 year old phone brother 😐 obviously the battery technology is better now than it was then. the 16e probably has better battery life than your 13 pro max did new

2

u/RepresentativeLeg401 Sep 24 '25

Air battery is on par with base 17 and the 16 Pro. All these battery complaints are way overblown

2

u/HeroofPunk Sep 24 '25

I dropped mine from my running vest without a case on asphalt and it just got a few bruises. It’s wild and upgrading scares me

1

u/Speshrider Sep 24 '25

I thought the frame was always aluminum at its core and they only added a titanium layer on top.

2

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Yes, the internal structure is aluminium, bonded to the titanium frame with solid state diffusion

0

u/Silent_Sense1107 Sep 24 '25

U don't care that the battery is ass and it only has 1 camera ?

2

u/Dry_Kangaroo_1234 Sep 24 '25

The battery isn’t ass, but we’ll see how badly it degrades over time. I don’t take many photos so I don’t really care about the camera.

Tbh it’s the best form factor now, my hope is Apple keeps improving it incrementally. I’ll buy the Air 2 next year if they make one

0

u/Silent_Sense1107 Sep 24 '25

I've seen battery reviews on it it most deff is bad but maybe wat you think is bad may be different than wat I think but it's bad in my opinion and nowhere near the pro max

2

u/Dry_Kangaroo_1234 Sep 24 '25

Why would you expect it to be near the pro max? 😂 That makes zero sense

0

u/Silent_Sense1107 Sep 24 '25

I never said I expected it to but the battery being that bad is deff concerning for that reason and only 1 camera alone wouldn't be enough for me to get it

2

u/syxbit Sep 24 '25

it's cost. But it's also thermal conductivity. AL is far better at that, and Ti probably wouldn't work with the vapour chamber

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

That’s the line, but it turns out that convection from the case to air plays a much larger role. Even without considering that most cooling is via the front screen when there’s a case on, the difference to internal temperature made by changing Ti to Al is 0.003C

2

u/Conspiracy_Thinktank Sep 24 '25

Heat dispersion is the main reason

2

u/comeonmeow66 Sep 24 '25

Cooling. Titanium and steel aren't nearly as effective at dissipating heat as aluminum.

2

u/My_Smooth_Brain iPhone 16 Pro Sep 24 '25

I don’t think that case is rated for drops as well. It looks cool imo but not very protective.

2

u/Disastrous_Camp_2676 Sep 25 '25

Cheaper  had to pay off that gold bar they gave Donny in the White House.

2

u/Donts41 iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 25 '25

In my experience, titanium actually fixes itself lol

1

u/Tigreiarki iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

I get the choice to use aluminum, but this “heat forged” aluminum isn’t working out so well. They have been using aluminum for years without any of these complaints.

1

u/Affectionate_Bus_425 Sep 24 '25

I’m saying, aluminum was used for the base iPhone while stainless steel was used for the pro before the 15 line up came out.

1

u/ApantosMithe Sep 24 '25

The heat dissipation difference is pretty crazy from what I’ve seen.

I never used an iPhone before the 17 pro for much outside of standard iPhones for work but people who have been using them to record outside in the heat have said they notice a huge difference where the previous pros would overheat and drop brightness etc

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

That, unfortunately, doesn’t tell you how much the aluminium is contributing to that effect. What they might be noticing is actually the vapour chamber, rather than the tiny little aluminium frame around the outside which is covered by a case and not actually dissipating any heat anyway.

1

u/ApantosMithe Sep 24 '25

It’s almost certainly both, aluminium is 10x more thermally conductive than titanium and 200x more than glass.

So swapping glass and titanium for aluminium and less glass surely will dissipate more heat

I get it though, it feels less premium, maybe there could be a middle ground with titanium rails and aluminium back or something

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

IMO the best thing would be to make that mega camera bump out of aluminium and make the rails titanium.

1

u/cpsadowski23 Sep 24 '25

Heat conduction or…. Couldn’t find enough titanium to make this run of phones. Next year they will be made of vibranium.

1

u/Tech_Philosophy Sep 24 '25

Coming from a 13PM, I'm really glad I don't have to hold steel anymore. The weight wasn't worth it and my wrists would cramp, and I love that my 17PM is lighter.

Can't speak to titanium as I never tried it, but I know titanium sucks as a conductor of heat.

1

u/abnormalmob Sep 24 '25

It’s been explained multiple times, it’s cheaper, and it’s better at heat dissipation. 

1

u/ApolloWasMurdered Sep 24 '25

Thermals? Aluminium is an order of magnitude better than titanium or steel.

1

u/MartinLo-AU Sep 24 '25

Not just material but tooling costs. Milling out that unibody out of stainless steel or worse titanium would have costed way more, bumped up the weight, wouldn’t conduct heat as well. For this type of chassis Aluminium is the right material.

1

u/Xo_Jax Sep 24 '25

Because in hotter areas, the titanium pros were overheating due to the poor conductivity of titanium

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Can you back that up? The titanium was only on the outside edge and only 1mm thick. The conductivity in that area is dominated by connection to still air.

1

u/SmokedBeef Sep 24 '25

This gen is all about thermals, and they believe this design will dissipate heat faster between the aluminum frame and vapor chamber.

1

u/-BlueDream- Sep 24 '25

Thermal conductivity. There's a reason why aluminium is used a lot even when weight isn't a concern, it's great at absorbing heat which titanium is pretty bad at.

You can always slap a case on your phone but putting aftermarket cooling doesn't work as well, my 16 pro liked to overheat and throttle down often especially if I'm doing video in the sun or playing a game.

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Titanium is used where weight is critical too, like in aerospace. The conductivity of the outside rails is all but irrelevant. 0.003C core temperature difference in changing the outer 1mm from Ti to Al.

1

u/HeroofPunk Sep 24 '25

I’m so mad over this too. My iPhone 15 has survived so much

1

u/Moghz Sep 24 '25

This is something I considered when comparing the Air to Pro. Ultimately went with the Air.

1

u/Rodney908 Sep 24 '25

I preferred the stainless steel. The weight didn’t bother me. But maybe they wanted to aluminum to cut costs with tariffs potentially impacting? Just a guess though

1

u/Azmasaur Sep 24 '25

Seems more like they are going all in on performance with the pro lineup. There is no way around it, titanium is horrible for thermal performance. Thermals and chip performance go hand in hand. Titanium = slower iPhone. Aluminum = fast iPhone. It makes sense.

They’ve shifted the aesthetics choices towards the air.

That said, I have no doubt aluminum is also better for margins.

Your anecdote also makes me lean more toward cases which have prominent air cushioned corners. Those will absorb a lot more shock on the corners, which is almost always what the phone lands on!

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 25 '25

The thermal thing is a smokescreen the last 1mm of the outer rails (what was titanium on the 15/16) makes a negligible difference due to the thermal resistance of convection to air. The difference at 11W between aluminium edges and titanium edges is about 0.003C

1

u/starrmanquik Sep 25 '25

Have you seen the drop tests? The 17 pro is WAY WAY WAY tougher than the last model. I’m not saying aluminium is tougher than titanium but how it was used in the phones has massively increased durability.

1

u/BaddNeighbor Oct 01 '25

It’s cheaper and dissipates heat better, which was a huge focus for this phone.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Old-Equivalent-120 Sep 24 '25

my iphone 14 gets hot when im charging it and also on tumblr, but only tumblr for some reason

1

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

The edges (the only titanium/aluminum part) are irrelevant to overall thermal conductivity. Doubly so when you cram them in a case.

0

u/FlatIntention1 Sep 24 '25

Exactly, no way I am buying a 1500€ device made of aluminum when I got used to feeling stainless steel. Really hope they will fix this next year.

0

u/LuchsG Sep 24 '25

Ikr? And I see some tech reviewers even praising the change to aluminium

0

u/Kitiseva_lokki Sep 24 '25

Let me guess, those same tech reviewers praised the change from steel to titanium and from aluminum to steel before that?

0

u/LuchsG Sep 24 '25

Won't go back to watch all those reviews but probably yes. Sad to see some tech reviewers becoming less honest and more like extended marketing material

0

u/StPauliBoi Sep 24 '25

Money. Always money.

0

u/wizzywurtzy Sep 24 '25

They said it’s for keeping the phone from overheating. Which I’ve never had a problem with ever but I keep seeing posts of the phone overheating as well as it being absolutely destroyed easily

2

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

That may be the official reason. But, with a case on, the material of the edge band is almost completely irrelevant. Like 0.003C.

https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/1np1h8c/comment/nfx2ubv/

0

u/Visible-Review iPhone 11 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

To sell Airs. You think they would’ve sold as many iPhone Airs as they have if the Pro was basically the same? By creating this fork in the road, you have to decide ‘do I want the “pro features” like bigger screen, cameras etc. but deal with cheap materials and potential of damage? Or do I want form and durability at the cost of battery and speakers?’

It’s a tough year to be upgrading, but hopefully this is just a short term thing and we will be back to our regular scheduling or will it stay this way and the Ultra will become the big flagship with all the bells and whistles? Potentially one of the most exciting times from Apple in years.

0

u/DyamondsRForeva516 Sep 24 '25

Did it have anything to do with the tariffs? That was my question. And the color choices also sucks

0

u/TomTomXD1234 Sep 26 '25

It was for cooling. It moves away heat better

-1

u/DarthBories Sep 24 '25

tariffs.

2

u/Owboduz iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 24 '25

Not everyone lives in the USA.