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I don’t care about what it costs or if steel or titanium is more premium. It’s a phone and I hold it in my hands all day and the weight is what counts. And aluminum is the superior choice for that application. premium bikes and cars are made out of aluminum an not steel.
Maybe you'd prefer carbon fiber?
 
if we are being to talk like that...then lets go F1 cars that are build from fibre-reinforced-composites
So...Apple should go that route? since it can be one of the best material for phone as well
Unlike race cars, where the emphasis is on the ability of the car body to absorb energy in the event of a crash, including crumpling, fiber reinforced composites would not be suitable for use in phones. Could you imagine it? You drop your phone and the side caves in? Also, the stiffness of fiber reinforced composites is strongest when the fibers are aligned — but that also makes them subject to cracking along those alignments.

The best available current material is the titanium alloy used in the iPhone 16 line.
 
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“Lightest pro iPhone we’ve ever built”
Except that wouldn’t be the case. In order to get the same strength and durability that titanium has, they’d have to make the infrastructure much thicker (and thus heavier) as well. Titanium’s strength to weight ratio is so much higher, it more than offsets any weight advantage of Aluminum.
 
Unlike race cars, where the emphasis is on the ability of the car body to absorb energy in the event of a crash, including crumpling, fiber reinforced composites would not be suitable for use in phones. Could you imagine it? You drop your phone and the side caves in? Also, the stiffness of fiber reinforced composites is strongest when the fibers are aligned — but that also makes them subject to cracking along those alignments.

The best available current material is the titanium alloy used in the iPhone 16 line.
That’s what I was going to say about carbon fiber. It’s strong but it’s brittle. It tends to shatter in a heavy impact.
 
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Next year's iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a titanium chassis just like the current Pro models, contrary to reports of Apple adopting aluminum across its 2025 lineup, claims the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital."

iphone-16-pro-models-1.jpg

Last month, The Information's Wayne Ma reported that Apple's two flagship ‌iPhone 17‌ Pro models would be the first high-end iPhones to feature an aluminum frame since the delineation of the iPhone lineup into Pro and non-Pro models.

Prior to the iPhone 15 Pro, high-end ‌iPhone‌ models used stainless steel frames. Then Apple introduced a titanium chassis to the iPhone 15 Pro, touting it as a major upgrade. However, Ma reports that with the ‌iPhone 17‌ lineup, Apple is planning to transition the entire range of devices back to aluminum.

Instant Digital doesn't agree, though. "Of course the iPhone 17 Pro will still use titanium," said the leaker in a Weibo post (machine translation). "Why would anyone believe it would switch to aluminum? Think about it — it's just not possible. Looking back at recent iPhone models, Apple has consistently emphasized the premium frame materials of the Pro series as one of its key selling points, from 'surgical-grade stainless steel' to 'titanium.' If they switched to aluminum, how could they even market it?"

It's unclear if the Weibo leaker has supply chain information to back up their claim, but as a standalone argument, it's not particularly water-tight. The Information's Ma reported that the switch to aluminum is part of a major design change that includes an aluminum upper back with a "rectangular camera bump made of aluminum rather than traditional 3D glass," with the bottom half of the device's back continuing to be made of glass to support wireless charging.

Apple is also no stranger to touting breakthrough iPhone features only to remove them in later models. In 2015, for example, 3D Touch was introduced with the iPhone 6s as a revolutionary way to interact with the iPhone through pressure-sensitive gestures like Peek and Pop. Apple unceremoniously ditched 3D Touch and the capacitive sensors that enabled it with the iPhone 11 in 2019.

iphone-15-pro-titanium-ad.jpg

Instant Digital has a mixed reputation for accuracy with Apple rumors but has delivered some notably precise predictions. These include the 2023 launch of the Yellow iPhone 14, the frosted back glass on the iPhone 15 and ‌iPhone 15‌ Plus, the Apple Watch Series 9 being a minor refresh, spatial video capture on the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro, the addition of a landscape front-facing camera to the iPad Air and iPad Pro, and the ‌iPad Pro‌'s nano-texture display option.

The iPhone 17 series is expected to launch as usual in the fall, with new display sizes, a rumored new ultra-thin model, ProMotion displays across the lineup, and more.

Article Link: Apple to Keep Titanium Chassis for iPhone 17 Pro Models, Claims Leaker
People only think Steel & Titanium was premium, when Apple told us, nothing premium about it, other than PR spin 🤣
Fact is, premium cars or bikes aren't made out of steel or Titanium.
 
Sorry, I didn't read all 73 posts. BUT, the iPhone 15 & 16 Pro series DOES NOT have a titanium frame. It never did. Nor will the 17 Pro series.

The iPhone 15 & 16 Pro series have a crappy Titanium veneer which is bonded/electro welded to the ACTUAL aluminum frame. I don't recall whether the older Stainless Steel phones also had an SS veneer or if the entire frame was SS.
Came here to point out exactly this. Seems like both rumor sources could be correct, just using different definitions of "frame"
 
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Instant Digital doesn't agree, though. "Of course the iPhone 17 Pro will still use titanium," said the leaker in a Weibo post (machine translation). "Why would anyone believe it would switch to aluminum? Think about it — it's just not possible. Looking back at recent iPhone models, Apple has consistently emphasized the premium frame materials of the Pro series as one of its key selling points, from 'surgical-grade stainless steel' to 'titanium.' If they switched to aluminum, how could they even market it?"

They won’t market it, they’ll market everything else that’s new, including a new look to the camera system. Some people act like Apple has to keep using titanium forever now because aluminum is for the “common people” who buy the base model. How dare they use aluminum instead of titanium after making such a big deal about the change from stainless steel to titanium with the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. Apple will use the materials they deem appropriate for their products and weight plays a big role in their decision to use the materials they use. Using aluminum will reduce the weight for increased comfort and reducing manufacturing costs to avoid a price hike is a win for us.
 
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Likely what I imagine they will do is have the back be aluminum (perhaps some kind of harder aluminum?), and it will be fused to the titanium frame. There is already a decent amount of aluminum in the frame of the past few phones that are fused to the frame but it's internal. If they did do this idea with aluminum at the top half, I would imagine it would give even more durability and strength in combination with the titanium side frame.
 
Titanium? Aluminum? Maybe by the time the iPhone 20 (iPhone XX?) comes out, we can have ultra lightweight carbon fiber phones.😎
I like this idea. Why? I would feel no heat no matter how I use the phone but then the phone is cooked inside. I am not too worried as long as my hands feel cool.
 
I definitely think Apple will continue to use Titanium for the frame. It might be aluminum only for the camera bump/island like in the iPad Pro. Glass for rest of the back of the phone.
 
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So you want a complete redesign but you also want it to look like an X/XS…. That’s not a complete redesign
The real need for a redesign, is because, everybody has now copied the current design, so we need to differentiate ourselves from the trash (including Google & Samsung)!
 
My cousin works for Apple engineering. He told me that they have been playing around with the concept of aluminium. This is due to the weight gain since the 16-series.

Internally Apple is struggling to innovate as new features are not ready for production.

The final decision will be made after New Year planned in the 3rd week of January 2025. Whereas they will prepare preproductions.

This guy is making random guesses. Aluminium and Titanium are both being considered at the moment.

The real redesign will be with the 20th iPhone.
 
My iPad Pro M4, third party pencil hvings issues swapping from the bottom to go to the Home Screen from the App. It used to work earlier. Not sure when it stopped working like this since I hardly use pencil but when I tried to use it today, it is behaving weird.
It may not be the pencil, my M4 iPad Pro does that sometimes with my finger even and I suspect it has to do with them adding the ‘double tap the home bar’ functionality for Apple Intelligence
 
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It may not be the pencil, my M4 iPad Pro does that sometimes with my finger even and I suspect it has to do with them adding the ‘double tap the home bar’ functionality for Apple Intelligence
For me the finger swap from the bottom works but not the Pencil. It used to work earlier. Not sure where to find the settings!
 
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