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iPhone 16 Pro Varying grip across Pro titanium finishes?

A

AppleTech22

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 10, 2010
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Decided to give the Max size a try this year and upgraded from the 15 Pro Natural Titanium to the 16 Pro Max Natural Titanium on launch day.

In a classic case of indecision, I also picked up a 16 Pro Desert Titanium today and will make a decision between the two over the course of this week.

To my surprise using the 16 Pro initially though, the titanium rails in Desert feel noticeably slipperier than the 16 Pro Max’s in Natural. Almost to the point that it negates the gains in one-handed usability of the smaller size, and I find I have a better grip in most situations on the Natural-finish Pro Max.

Tried cleaning the 16 Pro off numerous times - almost feels as if the Desert finish is oily when comparing the two. I’m wondering if the Desert finish itself is just tactilely different than the Natural (which I believe is also still painted/a finish and not raw Ti?). Anyone with both finishes notice the same?
 
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Your mind is exposing your bias towards the max size phone. The color of the finish between those two phones has nothing to do with grip; both are painted. More than likely, it is simple as the max phone fitting better in your hands versus the smaller pro.
 
Apple_Robert said:
Your mind is exposing your bias towards the max size phone. The color of the finish between those two phones has nothing to do with grip; both are painted. More than likely, it is simple as the max phone fitting better in your hands versus the smaller pro.
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That could certainly be it lol - I was getting more used to the Max size going into Sunday.

Comparing the feel of the two rails side by side does still feel like there’s a difference, but could just be in my head.
 
The different colors definitely have different “tackiness.”

The titanium of my 16 pro max feels more “tacky” than my partner’s desert 16 pro max, which definitely is more “smooth”/“slippery.” Note that this applies only to the titanium band (and camera rings); not the glass.

This has been noted on prior years as well, back to the stainless steel frames. They are NOT painted — the processes to add the color to the metal vary based on color.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
Your mind is exposing your bias towards the max size phone. The color of the finish between those two phones has nothing to do with grip; both are painted. More than likely, it is simple as the max phone fitting better in your hands versus the smaller pro.
Click to expand...

It's very likely the PVD coatings (not paint) effect grip level. Natural Titanium is bare Titanium with no PVD coating.
 
I’ve noticed my 16PM Black Titanium is grippier than my 15PM Natural Titanium. If you ranked this years colors in order of how grippy they are, what are they?
 
YaBoiD said:
I’ve noticed my 16PM Black Titanium is grippier than my 15PM Natural Titanium. If you ranked this years colors in order of how grippy they are, what are they?
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This thread got a lot more interesting, thanks for the observation!

I may test out the various finishes at the Apple Store tonight as I’m planning on returning the Desert Ti Pro regardless. It truly is noticeably slipperier in my opinion, which is big when going case free.
 
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AppleTech22 said:
This thread got a lot more interesting, thanks for the observation!

I may test out the various finishes at the Apple Store tonight as I’m planning on returning the Desert Ti Pro regardless. It truly is noticeably slipperier in my opinion, which is big when going case free.
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Please do. I’ve thought I noticed different colors having a different stickiness feeling and just assumed I was imagining things. I’m curious to see what you rank them.
 
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I'd prefer if the natural was a brushed finish for look and grip, but I use a case and 99% of people do so I don't know what difference it makes really.
 
Stopped by the Apple Store tonight to return my Desert Pro and spent a few minutes comparing the different Pro finishes.

What @YaBoiD mentioned seems accurate - the Black Titanium felt like it had the most grip, and just slightly more than the Natural. Those two finishes felt like they were tier above White and Desert, which both felt more "painted" to me in terms of texture (although Apple describes all as having the new microblasted finish).

Here's how I would rank them, each with a slight but noticeable difference imo:
  1. Black
  2. Natural
  3. White
  4. Desert
To help keep me sane - would love to hear from others if they stop by a store or have multiple finishes to try. Can't rule out finish variance or placebo playing a factor.
 
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AppleTech22 said:
Stopped by the Apple Store tonight to return my Desert Pro and spent a few minutes comparing the different Pro finishes.

What @YaBoiD mentioned seems accurate - the Black Titanium felt like it had the most grip, and just slightly more than the Natural. Those two finishes felt like they were tier above White and Desert, which both felt more "painted" to me in terms of texture (although Apple describes all as having the new microblasted finish).

Here's how I would rank them, each with a slight but noticeable difference imo:
  1. Black
  2. Natural
  3. White
  4. Desert
To help keep me sane - would love to hear from others if they stop by a store or have multiple finishes to try. Can't rule out finish variance or placebo playing a factor.
Click to expand...
Thanks for doing this. If I get to the Apple Store in the future I’ll do the same and report back.
 
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AppleTech22 said:
Decided to give the Max size a try this year and upgraded from the 15 Pro Natural Titanium to the 16 Pro Max Natural Titanium on launch day.

In a classic case of indecision, I also picked up a 16 Pro Desert Titanium today and will make a decision between the two over the course of this week.

To my surprise using the 16 Pro initially though, the titanium rails in Desert feel noticeably slipperier than the 16 Pro Max’s in Natural. Almost to the point that it negates the gains in one-handed usability of the smaller size, and I find I have a better grip in most situations on the Natural-finish Pro Max.

Tried cleaning the 16 Pro off numerous times - almost feels as if the Desert finish is oily when comparing the two. I’m wondering if the Desert finish itself is just tactilely different than the Natural (which I believe is also still painted/a finish and not raw Ti?). Anyone with both finishes notice the same?
Click to expand...
Can't speak to the Desert, but I went caseless for a year with the 15 Pro Max in Natty Ti and have the 16 Pro Max in the "new" Natty Ti and the change in finish and size of the phone is noticeable.

The new finish gets fingerprints and smudges 10X worse and is more slippery/slick than the 15. The 16 PM does not feel as good in the hand without a case as the 15 PM. The smaller bezels are nice, but not sure the new size and finish is worth it.
 
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adam1080 said:
Can't speak to the Desert, but I went caseless for a year with the 15 Pro Max in Natty Ti and have the 16 Pro Max in the "new" Natty Ti and the change in finish and size of the phone is noticeable.

The new finish gets fingerprints and smudges 10X worse and is more slippery/slick than the 15. The 16 PM does not feel as good in the hand without a case as the 15 PM. The smaller bezels are nice, but not sure the new size and finish is worth it.
Click to expand...
Agreed, missing the more brushed look and feel from last year.

I wound up ordering a sheet of Dragon Grips material on Amazon to add a strip of grippy material on each side rail. It gives such a confident feel in-hand when going caseless. Did the same on my 14 Pro, but didn’t last year with the 15 Pro as I was using a dbrand leather skin which provides better grip than the frosted glass. Forever am hoping they go away from the frosted texture on the Pros and back to glossy glass, it’s a night and day grip difference between the two imo!
 
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Nikhil72 said:
I ended up with a black 16PM after returning the desert one. Definitely felt the tackiest (most textured) of the colorways which was a very useful finding since I go caseless. It was subtle but this was true of two brand new out of box phones, not just the in store devices.
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When in doubt bet on black is what Wesley Snipes once said. Very nice color however I like to rotate colors and my past 14PM was black. Congratulations.
 
Confirming that I have noticed varying levels of grip on the different Pro colors.
At first I didn’t like the black finish, it is sort of “squeaky” feeling, but am now thinking that it may be the best one from a grip perspective.
I like the way the white version looks, but it definitely feels more slippery to me.
 
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astromoose said:
Confirming that I have noticed varying levels of grip on the different Pro colors.
At first I didn’t like the black finish, it is sort of “squeaky” feeling, but am now thinking that it may be the best one from a grip perspective.
I like the way the white version looks, but it definitely feels more slippery to me.
Click to expand...
Agree. The black is, to me, the best one for caseless. I don't feel like I have to grip it too hard.
 
astromoose said:
Confirming that I have noticed varying levels of grip on the different Pro colors.
At first I didn’t like the black finish, it is sort of “squeaky” feeling, but am now thinking that it may be the best one from a grip perspective.
I like the way the white version looks, but it definitely feels more slippery to me.
Click to expand...

We have every color in my household and I’ve definitely obsessed over this more than I’d like to admit…. For reference I use my phones naked. The black is definitely the grippiest because it almost feels tacky. It’s almost as grippy as a 14pro with the mirror stainless banding. I actually don’t like how it feels and smudges so easily but it’s noticeably grippier than the others. 2nd up is the natural titanium, it’s a notch or 2 under the black in terms of grip, but I like how this feels in hand the most. 3rd for me is the desert, it’s about a notch slicker than the natural. The white is the slipperiest one to me by far by at least 2 notches from the desert. The rail coating feels really smooth and slick, especially once you get your finger oils on it. Even freshly cleaned it feels uber smooth, like as those there is less microscopic texture than the others. Hope that helps anyone else out there. It never ceases to amaze me that I can always find other people on here that are ocd about their iPhones as me 😅
 
robotphood said:
We have every color in my household and I’ve definitely obsessed over this more than I’d like to admit…. For reference I use my phones naked. The black is definitely the grippiest because it almost feels tacky. It’s almost as grippy as a 14pro with the mirror stainless banding. I actually don’t like how it feels and smudges so easily but it’s noticeably grippier than the others. 2nd up is the natural titanium, it’s a notch or 2 under the black in terms of grip, but I like how this feels in hand the most. 3rd for me is the desert, it’s about a notch slicker than the natural. The white is the slipperiest one to me by far by at least 2 notches from the desert. The rail coating feels really smooth and slick, especially once you get your finger oils on it. Even freshly cleaned it feels uber smooth, like as those there is less microscopic texture than the others. Hope that helps anyone else out there. It never ceases to amaze me that I can always find other people on here that are ocd about their iPhones as me 😅
Click to expand...
Thanks for your observations. You are not alone!
This lines up with my experience very closely.
(Were the brushed 15 Pro colors like this? As-in this variable? Or, is this the first year to be wary about grip across different colors?)
I also go case-less. I was able to test the black Pro and white Pro at home, and extensively tested the other colors in-store (on 3 separate visits!).

I initially got (and still have) the black one. I almost returned it because, while being the most tacky, I did/do not like the overall feeling.

I was going to go white, because I think it looks great. But that thing is slippery as a fish. I just don't trust the grip.
After reading your commentary I now have some FOMO about the Natural Titanium.

In-store, the Desert was pretty close to the white, though perhaps having slightly more grip.
In my experience the Natural was closer to the black in terms of grip, but the "squeakiness" was less pronounced.
I could see how that could potentially make the Natural the best middle-ground choice between feeling good in-hand, yet providing enough grip.

I ended up keeping the black Pro, and am out of the return period at this point.

It's almost as though the "bar of soap" white Pro is the most "natural metal" (despite there being another color called "Natural"), while the other colors have various levels of PVD(?) coatings that are providing these grip discrepancies.
 
adam1080 said:
Can't speak to the Desert, but I went caseless for a year with the 15 Pro Max in Natty Ti and have the 16 Pro Max in the "new" Natty Ti and the change in finish and size of the phone is noticeable.

The new finish gets fingerprints and smudges 10X worse and is more slippery/slick than the 15. The 16 PM does not feel as good in the hand without a case as the 15 PM. The smaller bezels are nice, but not sure the new size and finish is worth it.
Click to expand...
Another reason I’m glad to stick with my 15 Pro Max this year.
 
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