Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Stainless Steel iPhone

E

EdisEdward

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 4, 2013
549
153
Anyone think Apple will move towards luxurious iPhones by offering stainless steel versions to differentiate itself from Samsung and other copycats?

The apple watch has done well with SS. Perhaps it would be nice to bring SS to the iPhone, just like the old iPods
 
The old stainless steel, polished iPods were prone to serious scratching.

Even the Apple Watch in steel scratches easily because of its mirror finish, and it's not even a device that is handled, dropped, or slid in and out of pockets.

The difference in weight between aluminum and steel would also be more noticeable since the iPhone is larger than the Watch, and a steel phone may seem too heavy.
 
EdisEdward said:
Anyone think Apple will move towards luxurious iPhones by offering stainless steel versions to differentiate itself from Samsung and other copycats?

The apple watch has done well with SS. Perhaps it would be nice to bring SS to the iPhone, just like the old iPods
Click to expand...

I'm already seeing a lot of people complaining that their Apple Watch scratches easily. A polished surface will show scratches more easily than a brushed surface, which may be the reason Apple has moved away from polished SS surfaces. I think going back to a polished SS surface would just give some folks something new to complain about.
 
SS would be way too heavy. The iPhone 4 had SS but it was only a band between two panels of glass.
 
Have to agree with everyone. Weight becomes an issue and next is scratching. My iPod Classics have all been in cases since I bought them, yet they all have some sort of scratching. Not cheap cases that I have them in either. It is just the fact that polished steel will scratch even with the lightest brush of anything abrasive against it.
 
firedept said:
Have to agree with everyone. Weight becomes an issue and next is scratching. My iPod Classics have all been in cases since I bought them, yet they all have some sort of scratching. Not cheap cases that I have them in either. It is just the fact that polished steel will scratch even with the lightest brush of anything abrasive against it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the pristine look of polished stainless steel is beautiful, but it never last for very long.
 
ardchoille50 said:
Yeah, the pristine look of polished stainless steel is beautiful, but it never last for very long.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. My poor iPod Classics look like I have not taken care of them at all, when nothing could be further from the truth. I am very careful with my devices and only my iPods look terrible.
 
firedept said:
Tell me about it. My poor iPod Classics look like I have not taken care of them at all, when nothing could be further from the truth. I am very careful with my devices and only my iPods look terrible.
Click to expand...

I'm wondering how much of the scratch damage you can buff out with a buffing compound. I've never tried buffing out scratches, but I would be willing to do so with regard to Apple products.
 
Polishing Itouch

I have a first generation Ipod Touch. It looks like new. I've polished it several times. If you want to maintain a mirror finish you have to use a soft polishing wheel. I just use my power drill with a cloth wheel and Brasso metal polish. Any polish will work. If you try it by hand it will work somewhat but fine hairline scratches will dull the finish. A power buffer is the best. If you want to do a more professional job sticks of polish that come in different grades is good. I find standard metal polish for anything but serious scratches is fine. I'm sure the watch can also be buffed to a mirror, scratch free finish. SS is very hard so no chance to buff through even thin metal.
 
Matte finish stainless steel will solve the scratching issue. I actually prefer a matte finish than a shiny one. You still have problem with weight. Stainless steel is stronger so you can make the shell thinner, but that would cause it to flex.
 
meistervu said:
Matte finish stainless steel will solve the scratching issue. I actually prefer a matte finish than a shiny one. You still have problem with weight. Stainless steel is stronger so you can make the shell thinner, but that would cause it to flex.
Click to expand...

I am afraid that matt surfaced SS will show scratches, too. Sometimes worst that polished.
 
I have learned long ago from my experience with stainless steel firearms that this metal isn't all that tough. It scuffs and scratches fairly easily. My approach with my phones and ipods is to use a quality case, and beyond that I don't worry to much about it. Everything we use will show some degree of wear in time.:)
 
Newtons Apple said:
I am afraid that matt surfaced SS will show scratches, too. Sometimes worst that polished.
Click to expand...

I actually have quite a few matte stainless steels items. It's my favorite material for many things. Many of these things stand a daily treatments a lot rougher than a phone would, and for years. They are still as good looking now as the day I bought them.

The thing about matte steel is that they are scratched to start with. As you use them, additional scratches don't stand out the way they do on polished steel. Take my stainless steel pans for example. I use metal utensil on them, and and scrap the inside every time I cook with them. After 10 years they still look great.

A phone doesn't experience any where near the rough treatment my stainless steel pan does, so I think it will be fine.

Another example is my watch which has both matte and polished surface. The matte area holds up beautifully all these years, but in the polished area, there are a few distracting scratches.
 
Design wise, I would love one. Space Black would also be interesting but I would suspect it would suffer from SlateGate. But unfortunately the iPod taught us that polished Stainless Steel isn't good against scratches, although if the Apple Watch 316L proves to be reasonable this could be developed over the next few years. My SS  Watch is not heavy but the difference between it and 7000 Series is considerable once held. Would be interested in seeing 7000 Series on the next iPhone which is much easier to believe.
 
One word - scratch magnet (well two actually :p)

I think in the coming weeks/months we'll be seeing a lot of complaints about the SS Apple watch, an iPhone made of Stainless Steel would show the scratches even more.
 
I don't think Apple needs to incorporate shiny stainless steel to make the iPhone look better. It could be improved with making the camera flush with the body and re-engineering the plastic antenna lines so that they are less noticeable.
 
meistervu said:
I actually have quite a few matte stainless steels items. It's my favorite material for many things. Many of these things stand a daily treatments a lot rougher than a phone would, and for years. They are still as good looking now as the day I bought them.

The thing about matte steel is that they are scratched to start with. As you use them, additional scratches don't stand out the way they do on polished steel. Take my stainless steel pans for example. I use metal utensil on them, and and scrap the inside every time I cook with them. After 10 years they still look great.

A phone doesn't experience any where near the rough treatment my stainless steel pan does, so I think it will be fine.

Another example is my watch which has both matte and polished surface. The matte area holds up beautifully all these years, but in the polished area, there are a few distracting scratches.
Click to expand...

I love stainless and have many items in stainless that are brushed. The threshold entry plated to my LX570 are brushed and show lots of skuffing. Scratches in the direction of the grain of stainless might hide some but across the grain and they show up big time. Both polished and brushed stainless in my life show scratches and skuffs.
 
maflynn said:
One word - scratch magnet (well two actually :p)

I think in the coming weeks/months we'll be seeing a lot of complaints about the SS Apple watch, an iPhone made of Stainless Steel would show the scratches even more.
Click to expand...

How is Apple watch made out of stainless steel be any different from a normal watch made out of stainless steel? If one buys a Ferrari, one wouldn't expect its paint job to be scratch proof.

I think there will be complaints from people, but more so from people who frequent this forum based on my past experience. So I think you are right: we will hear a lot of complaints here.
 
The first few gen iPods you could scratch with a fingernail. Imagine what the inside of your pocket would do.

There's an old saying that says 'jump up and down a few times....a grain or two of Sahara Desert sand will fall off you.' We all carry dirt/sand/mineral in our pockets and don't realize this.
 
Newtons Apple said:
I am afraid that matt surfaced SS will show scratches, too. Sometimes worst that polished.
Click to expand...

The Iphone 4 and 4s matt finish Stainless Steel band was very scratch resistant. Mine never scratched. I haven't seen many if any that were scratched, even display models. The immediate difference in the matt aluminum of the Iphone 5 was immediately obvious. There were way more scratches from day one.
 
Wasn't antennagate a problem because of the stainless steel band on the iPhone 4? Somehow I doubt Apple will try that again. Not to mention the scratches on old school iPods. On my iPod Classic you can't even read the serial number anymore.
 
Scratches on your iPod just meant that you loved it. :D My 3rd gen and Video were really bad.

I would take a stainless steel iPhone, and I'd proudly scratch the heck out of it like the iPods and use it caseless like old times.
 
Costino1 said:
The first few gen iPods you could scratch with a fingernail...
Click to expand...

Come on, you can't scratch a stainless steel surface with a finger nail. Granted there are different types of stainless steels, some are harder than others, but hard is a relative term, more applicable when you talk about tools like knives. All stainless steels are many order of magnitudes harder than your finger nails.
 
meistervu said:
Come on, you can't scratch a stainless steel surface with a finger nail. Granted there are different types of stainless steels, some are harder than others, but hard is a relative term, more applicable when you talk about tools like knives. All stainless steels are many order of magnitudes harder than your finger nails.
Click to expand...

I guess I didn't make it known I was being sarcastic. I do have very, very strong nails though lol :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back