The iPhone 17 Pro, which has returned to an aluminum alloy body, may have become the most delicate iPhone in recent years. As soon as the iPhone 17 series was launched in China, its durability has been widely questioned. Display machines at Apple Stores in Shanghai and Hong Kong showed obvious wear and scratches after just a few hours, especially dark-colored models such as blue (Pro) and black (Air).
Scratches on iPhone 17 Pro blue version
iPhone Air shows wear on black display unit
Mark Gurman of Famous Journal confirmed the issue, with flaws found on display units in Shanghai, Hong Kong and even London. French Apple blog Consomac also reported the same issue when visiting an Apple store to check it out.
Apple has not commented publicly on the matter.
It is worth mentioning that a blogger recently posted a video saying that the reason why the iPhone 17 series demonstration machine has scratches is because someone kept rubbing the back cover of the phone against the metal plate.
At the store site, the blogger also used the iPhone 17 Pro demo machine to rub the metal plate, and sure enough, it left scratches. This video caused controversy after the release of the video.
Some netizens in the comment area said, "Others may not mean it, but you definitely did it on purpose," "What a quality blogger," and "You know you can't do something but you do it."
This year’s iPhone 17 Pro series all use an aluminum alloy integrated body. The frame and the camera boss on the back are integrated. A super ceramic glass backplane is embedded under the camera boss to support MagSafe charging.
So why did Apple give up titanium alloy materials and "reverse" back to aluminum alloys.
Gurman previously wrote that there are core reasons why Apple made this decision. Simply put, aluminum alloys have two key advantages – lightness and heat dissipation.
"After the iPhone 15 Pro switches to a titanium frame in 2023, the iPhone 17 Pro will return to an aluminum frame. The aluminum frame is lighter and more efficient in heat dissipation. This will be a good change for users who are accustomed to using the 15 Pro or 16 Pro."
Aluminum has the best thermal conductivity compared to stainless steel and titanium, and in some specific cases, aluminum is 33 times more conductive than titanium.
So, why Apple uses aluminum instead of titanium, the answer is self-evident - it is lighter, better for heat dissipation, and it is much cheaper to manufacture.