The key word in your post is "if it makes them lighter." Frames are all made with alloys, so the weight of the pure metals is not the point. Note that titanium is used both in aircraft frames and in iPhone frames to make them both strong and light.
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iPhone 17 Pro Models Rumored to Feature Aluminum Frame Instead of Titanium Frame
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No one cares about the chemical composition but people do care about how SS and Ti feel in the hand. I'm quite correct that Ti and Al feel similar. I have both the 14PM in Space Black SS and 15PM in Natural Titanium. The latter feels cheaper, just like Al.
"Apple has made the Pro feel like the non-Pro. The expensive model feels cheap (by Apple's standards)"
And whats more nonsensical is a lack of clear direction from a company trying to sell a phone that costs $1500. At this point, I can't tell if Tim Cook needs to increase margin so he's returning to Al or whether the coating issues with Ti proved too much to deal with. These are problems that didn't need to be solved by sticking with SS.
Carbon fiber is more expensive than titanium, and the Apple Watch Ultra uses 95% recycled titanium.
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Given the strength requirements of the way an iPhone is shaped, carbon fibers would most likely not usefully be facilitating "...great heat dissipation along the direction of the carbon fibers."
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They have said they’ve listened the community in this, so surely one of the reason if they go back.
I can forgive, say version 1, for using plastic but we're on iPhone 17 now. If they made the switch to Ti, why not just stick with it for a few more years? It doesn't really provide a lot of confidence in their ability to differentiate between Pro and non-Pro models.
I miss my iPod nano. So cool.
Until you drop it. Aluminum is the worst of the three metals as it’s the softest. Aluminum is also much less expensive than either titanium or steel. Aluminum may feel premium compared to plastic, but it’s a really inexpensive metal. The thing that sucks is I was waiting for Apple to expand titanium to justify the high prices of Apple products. No such luck. Will eventually migrate away from iPhone anyway. Want out of the ecosystem. Don’t want Tim taking my money for the top 1%. Prefer to do smarter things with my money.
Why do you insist on repeating your tech error, saying
"...people do care about how SS and Ti feel in the hand. I'm quite correct that Ti and Al feel similar."
Please advise when you felt pure Ti. I suspect that you never have, but have instead felt a Ti alloy that feels like some Al alloy that you also felt. The engineers could also have presented a Ti alloy that does not feel like some Al alloy. Pure Ti never has and never will be used in an iPhone frame; probably neither will pure Al ever be used in an iPhone frame.
Edit: Note by frame I refer to the current exoskeletal approach being used. Some future iPhone might have an endoskeletal approach that would move the primary structural framing to the interior.
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Yes the marketing issues get confusing. <sigh> But I just wish we could let the engineers evolve their materials usage over time without whining about technically incorrect issues like comparing pure metals when only alloys are used. For this year's frame a Ti alloy may be optimum but next year an Al alloy might be optimum; then a year later glass, then back to Ti, whatever.
Trying to be cute, but also accurate. Of course they aren't going to use pure aluminum, they always use different alloys in conjunction and therefore are different grades. I mean just look at the past and Apple themselves have patented different 7000 series aluminum alloys. My bet is they are going to come up with something "new" this time as well (or at least claim so).
Your reference to the characteristics of pure aluminum is irrelevant, since pure aluminum is not used in iPhone frames.
Why do you sarcastically say "or at least claim so)?" Do you think that those new patents that you reference and the research that went into creating them are meaningless? Or that the materials science used in providing iPhones to the world is somehow a fabrication?
That said, we agree that the marketers do go overboard with their verbiage.
No disrespect per se, just an example of the likely majority intake. And there's a consensus building around 17 gen leaks, Air and Pro.
Sorry to be picky, but the titanium alloy portion is an essential structural part of the iPhone framing. It is not an aluminum frame with titanium stuck on it.
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stoked I've got a 16pro. Don't like the look of the new "camera bar w/bump", will be easy to skip the next couple iterations.
Mo money for MBP M5!
Mo money for MBP M5!
Oh my. I hope the consensus guess around leaks to date are wrong, especially for someone like me who goes caseless. IMO "leaks" are mostly Apple marketing softening up the marketplace for what is coming; minimizing surprises that might shake the money tree. The render as seen in this article is fugly [not the rectangular camera bump, but the color scheme as envisioned], and February is no doubt too late for any design changes to be made.
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Lol what's next, ship iPhone 18 with no camera and display for carbon neutrality? and let me guess, it's still going to be at least $1200 while having worse camera system/slower CPU/worse battery compared to Android phones?
Because I’m of the opinion that the patent system is broken and Apple also has a history of claiming they were the first when later we find out they weren’t. But that is another discussion.
This is entirely incorrect and completely unrealistic.
I shouldn’t need to correct you on this, BUT:
99% of the remaining 10% would be unable to identify and locate them on the periodic chart.
The truth hurts.
I’m sorry!!
😉
I really don't like the look of the render, and it makes no sense. Apple wouldn't increase the size of the camera bump unless it needed to add space for more cameras or something else that requires more depth in that particular space.
Total copy of Android phones with the horizontal black camera area.
Apple should try to be original.
Apple should try to be original.