I agree with the first half of this statement if indeed Apple is using aluminum on their Pro devices.
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iPhone 17 Air Said to Feature Titanium Frame — Unlike iPhone 17 Pro
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Totally— and having a titanium iPhone Air and an aluminum Pro will devalue the Pro line significantly in the eyes of some people. It’s a marketing mess.
It's compelling for me personally. I'll never notice the difference of titanium vs aluminum so may as well have the one that is better for the environment.
The 16PM is the last phone to have the classic design, the new camera bar phones are much uglier to my eye. It almost seems like the MBP notch where there’s no good reason to have that versus a hole punch. If they’d done Face ID then maybe a notch would be worth it but they didn’t. Same with the Air and the full length camera bar with one lens. What’s the point? Except maybe if the Air had at least two cameras like the regular iPhone and as rumored has 12GB and a slightly nerfed a19 pro then it’d cannibalize the Pro hard. The Pro will have a much bigger battery but the number of people who are away from electricity for an extended period of time is small and those who are can always use a battery bank or whatever if needed. The rest of its users can recharge a little more often and reap the benefits of a lighter, thinner phone.
YMMV. If Apple really wanted to save the environment, they’d stop changing the dimensions of the phones every year, forcing us to throw out and buy new cases all the time. Same goes for backwards compatibility of iPad Pro Magic Keyboards, etc.
What premium experience are you having with a different metal?
The reason is simple: with a mostly titanium frame, the iPhone 17 Air will not suffer the Bendgate issue that plagued the iPhone 6 Plus model.
I’ll take that one since this is obviously a “but you use a case” post. It feels better in the hand— and it should, since you’re paying a premium for it. This is why Apple makes the lion’s share of industry profits.
That’s just a rumor so in lieu of that being real then it’s safe to assume the material would be the same as it is currently.
Not sure how that’s even a question. Seems like you keep trying to argue what “premium” means. There’s a difference in quality/premium for everything. Cotton vs Egyptian Cotton, top grain leather vs full-grain, etc…they all share similar characteristics but it’s not subjective those are premium materials compared to their counterparts.
If I’m paying $1K+ for a phone do you not think the consumer is entitled to a premium experience which equates to perceived better quality given the product? I would not pay that kind of money for a plastic phone regardless of performance. Like if someone put Walmart rims on a Ferrari, you just ruined the entire car regardless of the motor that’s still in it.
Please MR staff and posters here: realize only alloys are used for the structural framework of tech devices, and different alloys of a given metal can have widely different characteristics. The constant reference to aluminum this and titanium that as if pure elemental metals are used is wrong and misleading on every level.
The rumored iPhone 17 Air will have a titanium frame, according to Apple analyst Jeff Pu.
In an investor note with equity research firm GF Securities this week, Pu also said the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will have aluminum frames, so the iPhone 17 Air will apparently be the only new model to use titanium.
It is unclear why the iPhone 17 Air would have a titanium frame, as aluminum is lighter than titanium, which would be fitting for the device's rumored ultra-thin and lightweight design. Titanium is generally stronger than aluminum, however, so perhaps the material is necessary to ensure that the iPhone 17 Air's thin chassis is durable.
Last year, another Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the iPhone 17 Air's frame would use both titanium and aluminum, so there could be a mix of both materials. Apple surely has its reasons, and it may discuss them during its iPhone 17 event in September.
Since the iPhone X in 2017, all of Apple's highest-end iPhone models have featured either stainless steel or titanium frames, so the return to an aluminum frame for the iPhone 17 Pro models this year would be a notable change.
Here is what Pu expects:
Here are the materials used for the iPhone 16 series:
- iPhone 17: Aluminum frame
- iPhone 17 Air: Titanium frame
- iPhone 17 Pro: Aluminum frame
- iPhone 17 Pro Max: Aluminum frame
- iPhone 16: Aluminum frame
- iPhone 16 Plus: Aluminum frame
- iPhone 16 Pro: Titanium frame
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: Titanium frame
Article Link: iPhone 17 Air Said to Feature Titanium Frame — Unlike iPhone 17 Pro
Good grief. You SLEEP on a sheet. The difference in material matters. The iPhone's material doesn't matter. Metal is metal. How Apple finishes the metal is all that matters. There is ZERO difference in experience with aluminum vs stainless steel or titanium, except that maybe the aluminum product is lighter and more comfortable to hold as a result. I'd say that's premium.
Premium materials can be expected at premium price points. The only reason to switch from stainless steel and now titanium to aluminum in their Pro devices would be the increased conductivity of aluminum for enhanced cooling. If they sell it that way and it specifically enables higher-end Pro features because it dissipates heat better, fine.
But just because one person doesn't appreciate the difference in industrial design quality for a device doesn't mean the rest of us don't. When we shell out that much money for a device, it matters.
no no no no
You're supposed to slap it into the apple battery case to add back those mah's that they removed.
iPhone 17 Air Expected to Have Battery Case Due to 'Worse' Battery Life
Apple's rumored iPhone 17 Air model will have "worse" battery life compared to previous iPhone models, according to a paywalled The...
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LOL. Pure projection. People who can't come up with a cogent response always resort to ad hominem attacks. Look in the mirror, friend.
“Bendgate” was after the iPhone 6 was released in 2014. Apple made changes in the aluminum case of subsequent iPhone 6s,7,8 to avoid bending. Apple started using Titanium (as a shell around an aluminum frame) in the iPhone 15 in 2023. The titanium was not a response to bendgate.
And Bendgate wasn't a big deal anyway; I had the original iPhone 6 which never bent and lasted me two years until the iPhone 7. Antennagate with the iPhone 4 was also overblown BTW. I had the iPhone 4 as well and never had any issues with my reception. Ahh, memories.
