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Some of us care about durability. Titanium phones are much more scratch resistant and don’t dent as easily.

Doesn’t answer the question

Do dents and scratches effect performance or usability in some way?
 
If my response is "smarmy" why bother responding? And why is it so hard to accept that others have a different opinion?
Oh, the irony. Why give a smarmy response to the original comment? Why then claim it’s okay for others to have an opinion when you mocked the opinion of the original comment? Such mysteries.

To reaffirm the topic, I think titanium is a good material and definitely leads to a “classier” finish, but aluminum is easier, lighter, thermodynamically better, and like others have said people won’t care. If they could do some sort of Ceramic Shield coating on the anodization I think people would be very interested in having less dents on their phones but most go in cases regardless.

As for marketing it will be something corny like “So light. So bright. So Pro.”
 
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They do affect resale value though. I tend to fund my new phone habit through reselling.

They’re consumer goods not investment products

Resale value shouldn’t be a consideration for the manufacturer or the consumer
 
How about tungsten ?
Tungsten is super strong and thin material perfect for iPhones...
Strength isn’t the only factor to consider though. There’s weight (is that what you mean by thin?), thermal conductivity, and personally I think environmental impact is important, namely ease of recyclability.

And from a manufacturer’s standpoint, there are factors of ease of manipulating (machining and coloring), and of course cost of raw material, all of which also indirectly affects consumers.

Not sure where tungsten lands with all of these, but since I’ve never heard of it being used, I assume there are major disadvantages. There’s also magnesium which Microsoft uses (or used?) with their Surface products. But that doesn’t seem like a popular choice for some reason either.
 
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They’re consumer goods not investment products

Resale value shouldn’t be a consideration for the manufacturer or the consumer
Shouldn’t and could are different things. A car is also a consumer product but people care about depreciation. I know when I buy my 17 Pro Max in a few weeks that I’ll be able to sell it on in a year. If it’s easier to dent etc it will lower the value.

I won’t change the purchase but it is a point.
 
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But is far stronger, letting them use less of it and reducing the overall weight.
Titanium is considerably stronger, but not that much stiffer. You probably can't make a titanium frame lighter than an aluminum frame at the same geometry without also reducing its stiffness (how much it resists flex).

There’s no comparison between an iPhone 11 Pro Max and an iPhone 15 Pro Max in weight. The 15 is noticeably lighter, despite even having a larger screen. Titanium iPhones are way lighter than aluminum ones.
As others have pointed out, you're comparing to steel here, not to aluminum.
 
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Titanium is considerably stronger, but not that much stiffer. You probably can't make a titanium frame lighter than an aluminum frame at the same geometry without also reducing its stiffness (how much it resists flex).


As others have pointed out, you're comparing to steel here, not to aluminum.
What are you [incorrectly] claiming? Titanium alloys have been used for decades to reduce weight while maintaining stiffness: e.g. in fighter aircraft.
 
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Titanium is considerably stronger, but not that much stiffer. You probably can't make a titanium frame lighter than an aluminum frame at the same geometry without also reducing its stiffness (how much it resists flex).

Different materials would call for different designs, and therefore likely different amounts of material in the frames, because the materials have different characteristics (as you noted). So there's no way to compare weight between one possible phone and the other since we don't know how much of one material vs another would be used.
 
Or a unique military nomenclature such as T-7075 Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy
Along with some mumbo jumbo about the environment.

Might as well get rid of the cable in the box while they are at it .. "Didn't you force us to USB C because you already cables lying around, well use them" and then change the SIM tray key in such a way that you have to buy Apple's SIM tray pin (oh but the trays are gone in the USA :p).
 
Doesn’t answer the question

Do dents and scratches effect performance or usability in some way?
I tell you you what matters to me. You can have an all messed up car all dented, without paint, that still takes you from point A to B. It still looks like a piece of crap. Again, some of us care about durability.

I am very curious how Apple is now going to spin that aluminum watches are “premium”. As of today you can buy a Titanium watch that costs 40% more than the same aluminum version (both cellular, 42mm, $499 vs $699). Same spec, only difference is case material and screenl. Apple charges 40% more for better durability. Increasing the Pro phones prices while downgrading to a less premium material (by their own historic standard at least) will be a tough sell.
 
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I tell you you what matters to me. You can have an all messed up car all dented, without paint, that still takes you from point A to B. It still looks like a piece of crap. Again, some of us care about durability.

I am very curious how Apple is now going to spin that aluminum watches are “premium”. As of today you can buy a Titanium watch that costs 40% more than the same aluminum version (both cellular, 42mm, $499 vs $699). Same spec, only difference is case material and steel. Apple charges 40% more for better durability. Increasing the Pro phones prices while downgrading to a less premium material (by their own historic standard at least) will be a tough sell.
I don't know what their pitch will be, but I would personally be glad for the move back to aluminum from titanium (although these are likely alloys and may even include parts of each other). Durability is much less of an issue for me than weight and overheating, and I think aluminum is more easily recyclable. I was never happy they ditched aluminum in the first place. But titanium in watches makes a lot more sense to me. At that small size, the weight difference is negligible (about 6 grams), and as far as I know Watches don't ever heat up. And always being on your wrist, they're always visible, and it's much more difficult to prevent them from accidentally bumping and scraping against objects in everyday life (and putting a case on a watch would look silly to me), so there the durability is more beneficial. The same applies to sapphire--more beneficial for a watch screen, less needed on a phone screen (it's also heavier).
 
2010: stainless steel frame [iPhone 4]
2011: stainless steel frame [iPhone 4s]
2012: aluminium body [iPhone 5]
2013: aluminium body [iPhone 5s]

I don't know how iPhone 4 was marketed at the time but it was the first iPhone with a stainless steel frame. 2 years later, a new iPhone in an aluminium body was announced.
 
The color choices using titanium are extremely limited due to the complex process needed to “bond” color to the metal itself. Even if Apple wanted to do “fun” colors on the Pro models, titanium makes it nearly impossible.
So true!

Titanium is very difficult to anodize and match colors from batch to batch.

I used to work with machined, forged, cast and bar stock aluminum alloy and they all came out differently after anodizing even in the same tank!

Glad that newer colors can be had such as orange.
 
Significantly better heat dissipation— that’s the only valid reason and that’s how they’ll sell it.
 
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