iPhone 17 Pro Ditches Titanium, Here's Why

[MacRumors]

Apple's iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max replace the titanium frame introduced two years ago with a new aluminum design. Here's why.

Apple introduced titanium to the iPhone with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max back in 2023, with the change even becoming the device's marketing tagline. While the devices were said to be more durable, they also suffered from complaints about overheating.

The titanium frame provided excellent rigidity and durability, but aluminum is lighter and offers better heat dissipation, which Apple has prioritized alongside the introduction of the A19 Pro chip and a new vapor chamber cooling system. Aluminum's thermal conductivity is substantially higher than titanium's, helping to distribute heat away from critical components under heavy workloads.

Titanium's machining complexity, slower production speeds, and higher scrap rates may have also contributed to the decision. Titanium frames require specialized tooling and precise CNC milling, while aluminum is less expensive and easier to produce at scale.

Aluminum also has a smaller carbon footprint than titanium, especially when sourced through Apple's low-carbon smelting partnerships. Apple's ability to recycle aluminum efficiently at scale may better align with its environmental strategy, while titanium's more energy-intensive production makes it less suitable for widespread use.

The new aluminum chassis on the iPhone 17 Pro series also enables new color options, with Apple introducing a new dark blue and a vibrant orange finish. Titanium's limitations in anodization are believed to have constrained Apple's ability to offer brighter finishes in previous Pro models.

However, titanium will not disappear entirely but instead become a defining feature of the newly introduced iPhone Air, an ultra-thin model measuring 5.6mm thick. The use of titanium is likely necessary to maintain structural rigidity while achieving unprecedented thinness.

Article Link: iPhone 17 Pro Ditches Titanium, Here's Why

 

[darngooddesign]

The titanium frame provided excellent rigidity and durability...

Durability sure, but it was a 1mm titanium coating on a regular aluminum frame, it added zero rigidity.

 

[BelgianChoklit]

The 17 Pro is 204g, which is really heavy despite moving back to aluminium.

 

[goonie4life9]

In truth, Apple removed the titanium facade. The rest of the body was aluminum. Now they are able to mill the entire unibody out of solid aluminum.

 

[User 6502]

Titanium has always been an inferior material choice for a phone and this kinda confirms it. Silly marketing and yet another headline feature that has been quickly dropped. Next one will be the camera button which wasn’t even mentioned today

 

[Zerlina]

So what modem does the pros use since they don't use the custom made one?

 

[fromgophonetoiphone]

I wonder if it was less of an abandoning titanium and more of a using the last 2 generations of Pro Phones to set them up for iPhone Air. I suspect this was more or less planned.

Any machinist knows the problems of machining titanium, and as probably the biggest company that machines aluminum at this scale, Apple knew what it was doing. I don't buy the angle that they decided to go Titanium and then backtracked realizing all the problems out of the 15 and 16 Pro phones.

Apple doesn't get blindsided that often to have to backtrack. I doubt this is one of those cases.

 

[carniesandrubes]

Real reason = to cut costs

 

[B-Mc-C]

Dealbreaker for me. The loss of premium feel is going to hurt. I drop my naked titanium phones all the time and they don’t get the dings or sharp edges that even the stainless steel material got. The anodized finish is going to chip off leaving bare aluminum. How are they using a more energy efficient chip and even with the addition of vapor chamber cooling they needed aluminum to dissipate the heat? I do not buy it. Repair rates will be much higher with these phones, finally shortening the replacement cycle and making shareholders happy.

 

[senttoschool]

It's too heavy.

 

[roguefury]

They dropped it only because they could use a British voice to say “Al-u-min-eeyum” for the announcement video.

 

[snipr125]

The polished titanium frame on the iPhone Air looks so good though

 

[kiensoy]

I dropped my stainless steel iPhone 12 many times and not a single dent. I dropped my iPad Pro from my couch and got dented in the corner right away. I wish it was titanium like the Air. Without the chrome it also looks cheap.

 

[jyw104]

As they touted how much recycled titanium is in the Air, plus the move back to aluminum for the Pros, it's probably not a coincidence that they have moved away from titanium given that Russia is major supplier of the metal.

 

[LightProtector]

Yeah I don't care for titanium. It's nice, but I'll take aluminum if it's better thermal performance and lighter.

 

[Taq'aix]

The 17 Pro is 204g, which is really heavy despite moving back to aluminium.

Lighter than the 14 Pro 👌

 

[svish]

Apple will have some cost benefit too. Anyway happy with the orange color and hopefully Apple will continue to have at least one bright color option for the Pro iPhone every year.

 

[menist]

Pro Max got heavier at 233g. The Air is tempting at 165g.

 

[kenypowa]

Don't worry, Titanium will make a come back in iPhone 19 Pro.

 

[darngooddesign]

The 17 Pro is 204g, which is really heavy despite moving back to aluminium.

The 16 Pro is 199 grams so its not much of a weight increase, also the 15and 16 Pros have an Aluminum frame with a thin Ti coating so its really not a case of their moving back to Aluminum.

 

[maruyama]

Interesting that both the Air and 17 Pro have the A19 Pro SOC, but the 17 Pro has the advanced thermal system.

Is this basically bringing the MBA / MBP thermal differentiation to the iPhone, where the Air is thinner but will get thermally throttled sooner?

 

[Yourbigpalal83]

Good. thicker phone, better battery, better cooling and better cameras, all things worth upgrading to me over the 16 pro max, espically with a 700 dollar trade in value! SOLD. They should use the titanium on the thinner phones anyways.

 

[imamacperson]

And why didn't they lower the price then?

 

[Mainyehc]

The new aluminum chassis on the iPhone 17 Pro series also enables new color options, with Apple introducing a new dark blue and a vibrant orange finish. Titanium's limitations in anodization are believed to have constrained Apple's ability to offer brighter finishes in previous Pro models.

I don't buy this. I've used Lindberg Air glass frames made from titanium my entire life and they've always offered quite vibrant colours across their product range. And they're quite durable, I don't believe they're painted or varnished, they're very likely anodized as well.

Sure, they're not as vibrant as these latest iPhones, but they're still quite saturated and dark. And definitely more so than the outgoing iPhone 16 Pros.

 

[crsh1976]

So what does this say about the new Air, which has the same new A19 Pro SoC without the fancy upscale cooling system?

They have a knack for painting themselves in a corner sometimes.