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This is insane. sad how all YouTubers now are ignoring this just to get some event invitations and free samples for views without even considering addressing this. Paying over a thousand $ for a Pro phone just to get some cheap coating is nuts. What is even worse is that the water vapor chamber is not saving battery that much, according to testings. Add a case to the phone, and it won't even get proper heat dissipation. Basically, this is a marketing move by Apple to save money by convincing you that cheap aluminum is too good to miss!
 
I noticed how the darker colors even scratch on the aluminum on the macbooks also.
Thats why i got the silver 17pro
I anticipated the blue and orange to chip and scratch.
 
Durability is not poor this year. The 17 pro Max is significantly better at drop tests from all heights. All the tests so far show the 17 as superior. The finish does scratch easier than natural titanium, especially around the edge, but I'm not sure why that would be a surprise or a disappointment. All iphones that have been any color other than natural metal show scratches worse. Doesn't matter if its aluminum, stainless or Ti. One the 16 pro with the Ti band, the band wears great and the screen and back shatter with significantly less force and height than the 17 with Alum unibody.

The AWU in the black finishes scratches way easier than the natural Ti. Not surprising.

Keep the 17's in a case, and you don't need to worry about scratches. Use it naked and its going to get minor surface wear quickly, and edge dings especially in the blue and orange. No surprise. Personally a scratched up orange, severely scratched up, with a perfect screen would actually look kind of cool. The problem is the screen is going to be much easier to chip the edge on and shatter without a case even with a screen protector on, so I'd at least want a bumper case.
 
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As a former apple engineer and life long Apple fanboy this is my first year not buying a new phone. It’s literally worse.
- I like the all glass back of 16 Pro
- new camera bump too big and ugly, like copying pixel which is now a beautiful phone that looks like iPhone 16.
- 16 has 5x real optical zoom. 17 is 4x.
- the colors….underwhelming.

I never seen a product regressed year over year but this gotta be the first.
 
As a former apple engineer and life long Apple fanboy this is my first year not buying a new phone. It’s literally worse.
- I like the all glass back of 16 Pro
- new camera bump too big and ugly, like copying pixel which is now a beautiful phone that looks like iPhone 16.
- 16 has 5x real optical zoom. 17 is 4x.
- the colors….underwhelming.

I never seen a product regressed year over year but this gotta be the first.

Faster more efficient chip. Better heat management. Doesn't get as hot to the touch (this was an issue for me). Screen improvements. Thinner bezel. Better battery life across the board. Incremental like it is pretty much every year.

Liking the all glass back more, which I agree with, isn't necessarily a step backwards from an engineering standpoint. Thats subjective.

Saying that the bigger camera bump is ugly, isn't an engineering judgement, but I agree. I do like that the camera bump itself doesn't stick out as much as the 16 pros though.

Optical zoom reduced in favor of a digital zoom increase, is a compromise and not necessarily a step backwards. I don't know enough about the +/- argue the merit either way.

Color choices are not a step backwards from an engineering standpoint.

So as a former apple engineer, how is the phone a step backwards from an engineering standpoint?
 
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I’ve been on my local Apple Store this evening and guys: it is true. I’ve seen by myself, at a greater or lesser degree, on all the new iPhones: 17, 17 Pro and Air.

It seems to be something related to the finish of the rear glass that makes it matte. For some reason it scratches easier, despite the announced Ceramic Shield 2.

So yeah, this year we have scratchgate.
 
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I still have my iPhone 14 Pro Max. I feel like that phone has been the best iPhone I ever owned. I's built like a tank.. I really wish Apple would go back to stainless steel, I know it's heavier but I really like the way it feels. I guess it's just personal preference. One of the reasons why I have not upgraded yet.
Same here. 14PM great phone, new battery in mine, still more capacity than every 17 model except the new PM. Figure the only differences I’d practically benefit from in the 17PM as my business phone are the marginally improved camera and a few AI features. STILL, I’ve been mulling over a telco trade in plus ‘phone dollars’ Faustian bargain deal on a 17PM for a few days, almost a ‘free’ phone albeit locked to the top tier monthly plan for 24 months which I don’t really need…
 
I think this is a more complicated issue. I visited an Apple store yesterday to see the colors in real life, mainly to confirm getting a blue one. I was surprised to see the white marks on the back glass. I found light marks on all three colors, but they seem more visible on the blue ones. These marks certainly come from the magnetic stands they use in the store: they have a soft, white pad and a round metal rim around the outside. I'm not sure all these marks are scratches. I was able to rub away some of the marks on the glass with my finger, but not all of them. They might polish out with a microfiber... maybe.

On some blue ones the phone body had some whitish marks. I don't think they are "scratches" in the surface, but marking on the surface. Maybe color rubbing off of the white pad or even the metal rim? The circular marks that match the shape of the magnetic pad were on all the phones, but I only saw the white marks on the blue phone bodies. The blue phone has a much more flat-looking finish than the orange, and the silver looks like most other silver aluminum Apple devices (maybe a little brighter though).

I'm not denying that there are scratches -- aluminum is softer than titanium or stainless steel. But some of what people are seeing, I don't think it's scratches--it's marking. I don't know if it will come off, so in the end it might not make a difference.

In these photos are two different blue phones and you can see the charging stand I described.

Edit: In case you were wondering what I decided, the result for me was I liked the blue, but I'm less sure that's a good choice.
 

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All Apple needs to do is make the display units so they don't scratch so they can then blame us for either using the phone wrong, or not buying a case.

I always buy a case, did with the 17 pro max, but this is pretty sad to see... as a fan of Apple in general, very lame.
 
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So it is true! The blue didn't look to scratched as the Max but the iPhone Air Black - was suppppper bad.
It's a display phone where people handle it carelessly and don''t care. You haven't pointed out any problem much less a real reason to avoid black. All you showed was that a lot of people are callous and careless with other people's stock they don't own.
 
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