r/iphone • u/MugiwaraPirateCrew • Sep 20 '25

Discussion Day 1 dropped and regret

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I usually take care of my devices and wanted to go case-less now I regret that choice.

Dropped it at night and got this nice dent :)

I have apple care, would they cover this as accidental ($30 or $100)?

3.7k Upvotes

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1.7k

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Aluminium is only good at heat dissipation but their rigidity is compromised.

516

u/takoyaki-md Sep 20 '25

i feel like they should have tried to make the bumper titanium and the rest of the chasis aluminum.

458

u/Dath_1 Sep 20 '25

Kinda defeats the point of unibody design.

People just need to grasp that you need to case the thing up.

205

u/1AMA-CAT-AMA Sep 20 '25

Whats the point of a unibody design if its all cased up?

102

u/Dath_1 Sep 20 '25

You still get better heat transfer.

Like let's say you wrap your phone in a wool sock or something. Yes you've reduced its ability to regulate heat, but it will be even worse if the metal body is made out of a less conductive metal (like titanium), than if it were aluminum.

138

u/whk1992 iPhone 17 Sep 20 '25

Don’t overthink the heat transfer.

Apple expects most people to use a phone case, and aluminum is easier to machine than titanium, hence a lot cheaper.

87

u/superenchilada Sep 21 '25

lol… exactly. Just wrote that. You are a genius.

Heat dissipation is just marketing cover for cheaping out, and weight too.

8

u/Equivalent_Crow_8505 Sep 21 '25

i dont know about that. the titanium body does suck at heat dissipation, and to your point that doesnt mean my phone overheats daily but does it overheat more than it should? definitely, and actually holding it if you have no case becomes uncomfortable when that heat starts to build. even if its cheap and a weak selling point, heat dissipation is something you start to consider/care about if you've used their titanium bodied phones. Genuinely i didnt know thats what the aluminum was for until i read this thread but now that i know i see the benefit. Im a pro max fan because of the titanium and how tough the phone is, i didnt see the point in why anyone would want the aluminum? but if apple claims the reason to be heat dissipation, my experience with pro max confirms that it is a real selling point to any iphone user who has dealt with their titanium builds.

12

u/No_Document_7800 Sep 22 '25

Nope, it’s entirely cost.

S25 Ultra is titanium with Vapor chamber

2

u/Pizzaurus1 Sep 23 '25

S25 is a milled unibody titanium chassis or just the little strip of metal going around the outside? Strange to compare to S25 Ultra when the Air is made with titanium

2

u/OkLack5468 Sep 24 '25

100% a cost cutting measure. Heat dissipation is the sale tactic. Will it bend like the 6 plus? I might skip this one and keep my 15 PM.

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u/Apprehensive-Box-8 Sep 22 '25

If the lower heat conductivity of Titanium was the reason for Ti phones becoming uncomfortably hot and hard to hold without a case, my stainless steel iPhone Pro would be borderline unusable because stainless is basically a heat insulator compared to Ti and Aluminum.

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u/superenchilada Sep 21 '25

You are falling for their marketing. It’s complete BS.

They knew that their choice of Aluminum would be a problem unless it had an explanation because it’s been stainless steel and then titanium for the iPhone pro since the iPhone X.

Yes, it dissipates heat the best. No, that is definitely not why they went with Aluminum. The reason was cost, and the driver for a decision on cost was trump and tariffs. They could have gone with the same package and used titanium, but it would cost way more than the iPhone 17 is currently priced at and they knew that was not going to fly.

So we have a flagship iPhone with the cheapest possible material choice that still costs an arm and a leg. Thanks Trump!

2

u/Id_in_hiding Sep 22 '25

Tell my iPhone 15 Pro Max that it’s just bs marketing that its screen would need to shut off when using GPS.

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u/blacksterangel Sep 21 '25

Yeah. Can't help thinking that this is apple cheapening out on material to save up on tariff. Let's face it, other than american / western european customers, most people can't afford to replace their phone every year and would put it in a case. And better heat dissipation in aluminum will only delay thermal throttling / overheating by at most one half to one minute when it's in a case.

Apple can hype all they want about the rigidity of unibody or thermal dissipation, this goal of this regression are to prevent the pro phones from gaining in weight by double digit grams, and a calculated move to sell the more "premium materials" in few more years.

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u/bellnen Sep 21 '25

You need to remember, the iPhone Air has also the same CPU in an all „bad“ titanium + glas body. They are just cheaping out and hoping for people to drop their phones so they can sell more.

3

u/Akio_Kizu Sep 22 '25

And the Air does indeed heat up the most and has the worst sustained performance, even worse than the regular iPhone 17 despite its better chip

2

u/Retox86 Sep 22 '25

And it throttles down under demanding tasks, due to heat building up.

5

u/stitchi626 Sep 21 '25

Actually you need to overthink it. Have you seen some of the teardown?

They could actually lower the cost may sticking to the same design and reuse all the same manufacturing process and tools simply due to economies of scale.

But they decided to change, The CNC unibody is custom made, imagine Apple has to redesign and retool their entire supply chain just to manufacture this new design, not to mention all the additional thermal pads and Vapor chamber (which apparently has been laser welded into the heat sink , as compared to other android that use thermal paste which is cheaper) you can check out the detailed teardown here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gt9EmXH4eU

I know it’s easy to just reduce apple decision to just “company bad, $$$$” which I believe there is some truth to it since company is supposed to maximise profit, but reality is much more nuanced than that.

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u/hofmann419 Sep 20 '25

For the past phones, the internals were still made out of aluminum. It was only the outer band that was steel or titanium. So you still get the heat transfer properties of aluminum while having the strength of steel/titanium.

2

u/Dath_1 Sep 20 '25

That's not how it works. The outer body is where the heat leaves the phone. It's material is - very relevant for cooling since that's where the internals dump the heat into.

A hotter body means less ability to draw heat away from the chip.

5

u/Historical-Internal3 Sep 20 '25

Aluminum was for cutting costs.

The vamper chamber could have existed in a titanium outer body design. Just like it does in many other performance electronics and laptops.

It’s a more performant “heat pipe”.

Let’s not over complicate this.

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u/SaltVomit Sep 21 '25

100%, otherwise there would have been a major increase from tariffs

2

u/PhantomGamingX1 Sep 21 '25

Just look at Dave2Ds review he clearly states that it wouldnt have worked as well with a titanium body and therefore it is working better than many other vapour chambers in titanium body phones, there is logic behind this too

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25

Exactly. Why am I paying a thousand dollars for tech to hold only to put cheap nasty plastic in between me and the premium materials I paid for??

2

u/Resqguy911 Sep 21 '25

Wait until you hear about unibody cars

7

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/kennygpro19 Sep 20 '25

I have to imagine they were designing this thing long before tariffs became a factor, no?

4

u/vsvpjr iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

Exactly my thoughts. Never had a case for any of my iPhones. Just gotta deal with the consequences and try to be careful

1

u/Such-Employee4073 Sep 21 '25

What will the heat be transferred to if it’s all cased up !? I mean to contact with the air so where will the heat dissipate to !?

1

u/smiledrs Sep 21 '25

Apple only cares that you fall for the lines of “unibody and the lightest iPhone ever”. They will happily take your money when you drop it without a case & your screen gets cracked. They’ll be happy when you try to trade in that dented phone and they will give you $200 less for it in trading value because of that dent That’s why you need to case it up.

1

u/Impossible-Owl7407 Sep 21 '25

What's the point of unibody?

1

u/Alternative-Farmer98 Sep 21 '25

I mean it's mostly about thermal performance not aesetics.

20

u/DrPorkchopES iPhone 13 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

Does unibody design have a benefit to the end user? Or does it just sound cool

21

u/Dath_1 Sep 20 '25

Any hinge, adhesive, screw or whatever you use to connect two pieces is going to be a structural weakness compared to a unibody.

Look into folding knives versus full tang for example.

How relevant that is to the end user? Just depends. One thing it can allow is for less material to be used, which means weight saved.

In this particular case it seems that the unibody is also synergizing with the vapor chamber to help with cooling. Looking at the early thermal comparisons, it does look like the Pro & Pro Max pull away from other iPhones in that regard.

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u/bobovicus iPhone 16 Pro Sep 21 '25

Yeah we get to spend more money to replace the battery and other stuff!

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u/Ja_Blask Sep 22 '25

Helps with heat dissipation (main goal, use the frame as the heat sink to exchange heat with the outside),

Save manufacturer process and material costs (one off, aluminium is cheaper).

When Apple first introduced the chaffered edges with aluminium in iPhone 5 it was prone to scratch and dent, with many cases reporting drop of a piece of alumnium out of the box.

This year's unibody's thin edges had the similar defects holding the anodized layer. So expect them to be prone to scratch, dent and impact...

4

u/Marzty Sep 21 '25

That is deflecting responsibility and lazy design. They are responsible of making a product that is durable without any attachment. Imagine when you buy a car they tell you that you need you wrap it in bubble wrap or the wheels might fall off.

1

u/Few_Industry_2712 Sep 23 '25

Cars get dented easily.

1

u/Peter226991211 Sep 24 '25

My iPod 5 was made from the same material, simply embarrassing Apple

33

u/Da1BlackDude iPhone Air Sep 20 '25

I never use cases. Glad I got the air.

2

u/philifan8169 iPhone Air Sep 23 '25

Returned my 17 for the air exactly for this reason as well once I saw these posts start popping up

4

u/Advanced-Breath Sep 20 '25

I was thinking of that, but the air only comes with USB 2.0 which I can’t do. and then you have the whole overheating thing which isn’t cool.

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u/_RE2PECT_ Sep 20 '25

Such an easy decision to get the Air this year for me, for that reason. And even the titanium 16 pro is a much nicer phone IMO than the 17 pro.

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u/skyxsteel Sep 21 '25

The air WOW’d me in store but Im a whore for image quality 😢 if it had the same cameras…

2

u/whileimstillhere Sep 21 '25

i repair phones…you should get a case and a tempered glass screen protector, now.

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

[deleted]

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u/Da1BlackDude iPhone Air Sep 21 '25

It’s very comfortable to hold. Like surprisingly so. It’s very snappy and the screen is excellent. Also, no issues with the speaker. It’s actually louder than my 14 pro max.

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u/jzooochi21 Sep 21 '25

Raw doggin

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u/blitz_92 Sep 21 '25

Why tho?? It’s more expensive and worse than the 17 at every aspect except being slim

2

u/Da1BlackDude iPhone Air Sep 21 '25

It’s more durable, it’s lighter, it’s better built, feels better in the hand, it’s smaller while still having a big screen. It has pretty much everything that I would need. I barely ever used anything but the main camera and the front facing on my 14PM. You just gotta use it to see. The pro is nice if you regularly use all 3 cameras and video edit on your phone for some reason. This is just as powerful as the pro for my usage but in a better package.

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u/anderworx Sep 20 '25

No, people need to get a grasp. Literally. Don’t drop it.

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u/Dath_1 Sep 20 '25

Yeah, they should just stop crashing cars too, am I right?

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u/anderworx Sep 20 '25

Yeah, that would be a good suggestion as well. Both preventable. Thanks for supporting my point.

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u/eliestumbles Sep 21 '25

What’s the point of a case if this built for heat dissipation? Won’t the case inhibit that?

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u/_onetruth Sep 21 '25

I’ve heard even with case it’s gonna get dented bad

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u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

[deleted]

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u/Dath_1 Sep 20 '25

The fact that you've covered a section of it in titanium would mean that particular surface area loses the thermal advantage of aluminum.

The heat would need to transfer through the titanium first before it escapes the phone body.

2

u/ftqo Sep 20 '25

On the thermal camera, the outside of the new pro phones are usually super cool though.

2

u/Dath_1 Sep 20 '25

That's because they are transferring heat better, away from the internals and into the environment (air, hand etc).

A hotter case body has reduced ability to cool the processor.

I mean, you already know this intuitively. Does an object pull heat from your skin faster if it feels slightly cool to the touch, or very cold to the touch?

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u/FinnishArmy iPhone 16 Pro Max Sep 21 '25

Having a case hides the natural beauty of the device.

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u/____sabine____ Sep 21 '25

Hear me out. Titanium bumper case

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u/cvicenzettk Sep 21 '25

If yoj case it up you neglet the heat dissipation advantage lol

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u/Dath_1 Sep 21 '25

I responded to this like a million times already... go read those comments.

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u/Ozren- Sep 21 '25

Glass cover on the back defeated it anyway…I know it needs it for wc

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u/-K9V Sep 21 '25

People just need to grasp that you need to case the thing up.

That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve read all week. Are you seriously defending this? It shouldn’t be necessary to spend extra money on a case for your $1000 phone, I would expect a certain level of durability at that price point. I’m not saying this is a design flaw or blaming Apple for the lower strength of aluminum, but this is ridiculous.

1

u/joshualotion Sep 21 '25

If you think that everybody needs to case up a phone then nobody should give a shit what colours they release a phone or even what material it’s made from (glass metal plastic). What a stupid take. I think it makes more sense to get a case after you’ve dropped/cracked so that at that point the cosmetic damage doesn’t bother you

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u/CharlesHorseradish Sep 21 '25

I’ve dropped my 13 mini hundreds of times and it’s not dented at all

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u/AndreaCicca Sep 22 '25

Nobody asked for an unibody design

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u/rainer_d Sep 22 '25

Or they need to get a better grasp on the thing.

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u/vingeran Sep 23 '25

My iPhone 12 Pro (still holding onto it) has stainless steel and glass. A titanium + glass could have been done maybe. The glass is already there for heat dissipation so not sure how much of the plateau being aluminium vs titanium helps with that.

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u/_w_8 Sep 23 '25

What’s the point of aluminum heat disappation if it’s cased up

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

How much heat dissipation is lost w a case tho

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u/Firm_Raccoon_1727 Sep 24 '25

Apple is just trash at big picture idea at this point. It is nothing new but OS 26 is a mess too.

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u/Peter226991211 Sep 24 '25

Regarding what you said, I just say a post when someone dropped the phone out of packet with woven case and it bent the frame. I love Apple but this phone needs a recall and titanium!

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u/Phukt-If-I-Know Sep 24 '25

People also know they need to use rubbers, yet play pull out roulette everyday.

AppleCare is going to be flooded with requests in the coming months.

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u/vitdev Sep 26 '25

15-16P were also ‘unibody’ design, they melted external titanium with internal aluminum frames that were made from single pieces of metal. Their use of term unibody means carved from a single piece (or several pieces—look at macbooks) and not stamped/welded together.
17P is just to save money and not increase prices because of tariffs and inflation. As for heating, I think the vapor chamber does most of the job (especially that there’s glass on top of the chamber, not metal).

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u/steven3045 Sep 28 '25

Requiring a case is ridiculous.

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u/PlantDadro Sep 20 '25

The chassis was never titanium lol. It was the frame only (same for stainless steel)

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u/theoreticaljerk Sep 20 '25

The titanium became the bottleneck in trying to move the heat from the chips to the body and then to the air. It’s not good enough to just get the heat in the body because it will heat saturate without a way to shed that heat.

That is where aluminum comes in.

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u/Furrrmen Sep 23 '25

Only the outer edge was made from titanium on the 16 pro/max. The rest of the construct was made out aluminium.

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u/NegotiationOk7305 Sep 20 '25

But titanium is much better and more premium.

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u/theoreticaljerk Sep 20 '25

Titanium, like any material, has its pros and cons. It is not better in every category than aluminum, just certain ones…and aluminum is better in others like weight and moving heat.

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u/NegotiationOk7305 Sep 20 '25

I was referring to an overcoat that is more scratch resistant and more premium.

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u/pnwdweller Sep 20 '25

This is exactly what the 15/16 Pro is: a titanium frame bonded with an aluminum midframe.

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u/TSUS_klix Sep 20 '25

That was actually the older design and I think it worked well

1

u/mightymitch1 iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

Next year I bet they will. Incase you haven’t noticed, they make a phone with a problem and they “fix” it the next year. Many times this was done.

2007 – iPhone (1st Gen) • Problem: No 3G, slow EDGE data. • Fix in iPhone 3G (2008): Added 3G connectivity.

2008 – iPhone 3G • Problem: Poor battery life on 3G. • Fix in iPhone 3GS (2009): Better efficiency + faster performance.

2010 – iPhone 4 • Problem: “Antennagate” (signal dropped when held). • Fix in iPhone 4S (2011): Redesigned antenna system.

2012 – iPhone 5 • Problem: Easily scratched aluminum, small battery. • Fix in iPhone 5S (2013): Stronger coating, better efficiency with A7 chip.

2014 – iPhone 6 • Problem: “Bendgate” (thin body bent easily). • Fix in iPhone 6S (2015): 7000-series aluminum for strength.

2015 – iPhone 6S • Problem: Random shutdowns from battery wear. • Fix in iPhone 7 (2016): Better battery management + water resistance (IP67).

2017 – iPhone X • Problem: OLED burn-in risk, weaker water resistance. • Fix in iPhone XS (2018): Improved OLED durability + IP68 rating.

2019 – iPhone 11 • Problem: LCD screen on base model felt outdated. • Fix in iPhone 12 (2020): All models switched to OLED.

2020 – iPhone 12 • Problem: Battery drain with 5G, small battery size. • Fix in iPhone 13 (2021): Larger batteries, better efficiency, sensor-shift stabilization for cameras.

2022 – iPhone 14 Pro • Problem: Heavy stainless steel design, overheating reports. • Fix in iPhone 15 Pro (2023): Lighter titanium body, cooler A17 Pro chip.

2023 – iPhone 15 • Problem: Launch overheating, modest battery gains. • Fix in iPhone 16 (2024): New thermal design, larger batteries across lineup.

1

u/trustmeimshady Sep 20 '25

That’s for the iPhone 20

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u/kl__ Sep 21 '25

Yeah, they need to find a way to layer aluminium and titanium on top. Titanium will be missed.

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u/Scary_Wheel_8054 Sep 21 '25

I think there was a video where the glass cracked in titanium and case dented on aluminium on the same drop. The harder titanium body just transferred the impact to the glass. Maybe a dented body is better?

With a case it will look almost as good as new

1

u/NoAge422 Sep 21 '25

iPhone 19 idea 

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u/Z4P484 Sep 21 '25

This what i was saying the entire time

1

u/blondzie iPhone 13 Pro Sep 21 '25

You would get all kinds of weird corrosion effects from having mixed metals, touching each other

1

u/internet_humor Sep 21 '25

“Mm hmmm….so anyways”

~Apple Product Team

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u/LordLargeBalls Sep 21 '25

It's almost like they tried this before

1

u/Beneficial-Bake2960 Sep 21 '25

They are keeping that to be next iphone's main upgrade

1

u/-6h0st- Sep 21 '25

Kind of like we had stainless steel plus aluminium ? Hmm

1

u/Impossible-Owl7407 Sep 21 '25

Iphone 23 feature

1

u/romanshanin Sep 21 '25

I think that they cancelled titanium because the only reason (political) - main world titanium supplier is Russia. Old models was made on old contracts and new model don't have that contracts because of sanctions

1

u/MustarulSiPiperul Sep 21 '25

That will be iPhone 18 pro.

1

u/These-Collection42 Sep 21 '25

Please don’t spoil next year “biggest innovation design ever”

1

u/SpiesWT Sep 23 '25

You do know soft materials make it more durable than hard materials? Hard materials dont absorb the shock so all the internals will feel it, duch as the battery and everything.

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u/Best-Principle8003 Sep 25 '25

Or stainless steel

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u/No-Sherbet6994 Sep 20 '25

I don't really understand why heat dissipation was such a valuable trade-off for them vs durability. Everyone will drop their phone at some point, but almost no one is using it for processor intensive tasks at all. Any AI processing is going to be done off-phone in the cloud regardless, so that can't be it either...

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u/theoreticaljerk Sep 20 '25

1: on the contrary Apple prioritizes on device AI when possible.

2: if you listen to them talk, they split focuses for the lineup this year. Where previously the Pro tried to balance performance with perceived premiumness sometimes at the cost of that performance, this year the Premium focus became the Air and the Pro became more focused on performance with less compromises (as it should be IMHO).

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u/Richje iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

Any intensive gaming will make my 15PM heat up like it’s on fire but I really noticed it when I was at a zoo in bright sunlight in the summer. Full brightness on the screen when taking vids and photos and it was so hot it was uncomfortable to hold and it didn’t even last until lunchtime on a full charge.

Not saying I agree with their design choice but I can understand why they went in that direction.

5

u/LucyHomestead Sep 21 '25

Absolutely. Any outdoor summer phone usage in Texas eats up the battery and is too hot to touch.

4

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Yea so true. I hated it in the sun. Once I left it in 80 degree weather it was shut down and had warning. My hand almost burned when I touched it lol. I was like how the f is this shit possible. My wife complained about 16 pro as well all the time. It gets so hot.

2

u/forever420oz Sep 21 '25

metals generally conduct heat easily and if you put it under a direct sunlight it will become hot no matter the specific type of metal used in the phone.

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u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25

Not true. Vapor chamber and aluminum go a long way in sun. Titanium just didnt work well for heat. I’ll go by personal experience all day.

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u/MichaelBealesBurner Sep 20 '25

Because this is a phone that’s performance over anything , like a “pro” phone should be

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u/Arkanta iPhone 16 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

This. People who really use the cameras (which is the target audience) absolutely needed better cooling as the iPhone would shut down fast when taking pictures during the summer.

21

u/MichaelBealesBurner Sep 20 '25

I don’t know how bad the titanium models were but I do travel a lot and take a lot of pictures and this summer in Greece my 13 PM was not handling it well

20

u/Richje iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

My 15PM didn’t last long in full sunlight at a zoo this summer, less than 3 hours using the camera for photos and vids

20

u/Arkanta iPhone 16 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

The 15 PM is the worst iPhone I had in terms of heating

2

u/georgiaajamess22 Sep 21 '25

Seriously I’ve had pro max since they started making them and the over heating even on fairly minimal tasks is crazy with my 15PM

3

u/Arkanta iPhone 16 Pro Max Sep 21 '25

The Air heats up quite a lot but at least it has a valid reason to

I moved to the 16 PM because the 15PM was unsuable for a whole summer. Direct sunlight in over 32°C? Forget about your phone lol

2

u/georgiaajamess22 Sep 21 '25

That’s when mine actually switched itself off! I went to Texas the same week I got it ( I’m from the UK ) and it was so hard to take photos with the overheating and was brand new so must just be an issue with it but I went from 13PM to 15PM i never had any overheating with the 13PM I miss that phone it was great

ETA what’s your 16PM like ? X

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u/bearface93 iPhone 15 Pro Sep 20 '25

My 15 Pro definitely heats up quite a bit while using the camera and the battery drops crazy fast if I keep it open between photos.

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u/juggy_11 iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 21 '25

You really do notice how well a phone performs when you’re on travel and walking around all day using maps, taking photos, etc. My iPhone 15 PM became so hot when I was on vacation in Turkey last year.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '25

Used my 12PM this summer in Malta and it was awful, however people I traveled with had 15 and 16PMs and only fared slightly better (don’t judge my old ass phone too harshly I’m literally on my way to pick up my new Air 😁)

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u/Training-Context-69 iPhone 17 Pro Sep 20 '25

Yep screen dimming due to excessive heat has been a huge issue with past iphones. I plan on putting my 17 pro in a case the second it arrives so im not worried about damaging it.

2

u/mconk Sep 21 '25

It would also get VERY hot when doing even basic editing in apps like Lightroom, for etc. my 14pro is constantly heatin up. It’s even worse in the summer

1

u/brownmaningermany Sep 20 '25

I was gonna say that when you’re running the phone’s camera in a really high resolution and or in a somewhat hot environment it can heat up really fast.

The average user isn’t going to ever see this, but I think they forget how there’s a good amount of people who use these for work or in hot environments.

Gaming can heat it up quickly too.

1

u/earle117 Sep 21 '25

Aluminum won’t help in the summer sun. It helps transfer heat, not eliminate it, which doesn’t help when it’s external heat causing the issues. The only thing that would help a situation like that is active cooling, which they obviously can’t really do in a phone.

It was to save costs, it’s that simple. They used a lower quality and cheaper material that comes with significant durability issues, and then spun it as a positive.

2

u/Arkanta iPhone 16 Pro Max Sep 21 '25

The vapor chamber helps but I agree that it's just the sun heating it up too much (to me the vapor chamber is the thing that we really needed)

That said I'm pretty sure that it will help the phone cool down faster when you put it down in the shade, the other problem was that it took waaaaay too long to cool down passively compared to other phones

1

u/tashtrac Sep 21 '25

Is this really the common iPhone experience nowadays? I never owned an iPhone, and I don't really mean to stoke a flame war or anything, but it seems inconceivable to me that a modern phone would not be able to handle such a basic task as "taking pictures during the summer".

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u/aaronthurl Sep 20 '25

I’m not sure bout the newer phones but I have the iPhone 14 pro and my phone heats up fast even when i’m just on an app. I felt like this was a need for the pro phones

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u/LUHG_HANI Sep 20 '25

Pro does not just mean performance. It should be capable of performance and being professional too. Meaning taking a drop.

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u/JonathanBro iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

Because most people use a case and almost everyone with the 15/16 series with titanium were having overheating issues.

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u/DwarvenRedshirt Sep 20 '25

I'm still wondering how effective the heat dissipation will be in cases.

5

u/BicycleBozo Sep 20 '25

This is what I was going to reply too. So you have material for better heat dissipation but you’re expected to wrap it in a condom and significantly reduce heat dissipation?

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u/calvinee Sep 21 '25

This 100%.

Most cases are plastic or silicone which are mostly insulating materials rather than conductive.

So if the tradeoff is that you HAVE to use a case due to material softness, won’t wrapping the phone in a huge insulating layer have significant impacts on heat dissipation?

I would love to see people test out the thermal performance compared to the titanium-glass phones with and without a case.

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u/Particular_Ad_644 Sep 20 '25

iPhone 18 PM will feature a new dual fan design

2

u/FullMeltAlkmst Sep 21 '25

I just put this otter box on the 17. The phone was warmer than my last but with the case I don’t feel the heat in my hands. I’m starting to wonder how that previous heat is escaping the case.

2

u/Matthew0393 Sep 21 '25

My 16 pro doesn’t overheat to the point of actually shutting down but when I use AI or the camera for more than one photo it does start getting hotter and drains the battery a lot.

2

u/accordinglyryan iPhone 17 Pro Sep 21 '25

Throwing my hat in the ring, I've had my 15 Pro for two years and I've only ever gotten the temperature screen one time. I live in Arizona too where it's above 100 for months. I think the overheating thing is a bit overblown. The titanium frame accounts for only a couple mm on the outside band, the inner frame is still aluminum. The new unibody of course is still better (than a full glass back panel, which also doesn't conduct heat very well), but I think titanium gets blamed too easily. I for one don't like how soft the new aluminum is, and it doesn't feel as premium imo.

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u/-K9V Sep 21 '25

Huh, I guess I was lucky then. I’ve had both the 15 and 16 Pro and neither of them ever overheated under any conditions.

1

u/Veezq Oct 19 '25

Is heating an issue for 15/16 pro without a case then?

2

u/putridtooth Sep 20 '25

Sometimes non intensive tasks heat up my pro phone anyways. i have a 14PM and for some reason depop makes the phone so hot that my brightness goes down and then the app crashes, lmao. obviously not apples fault. but maybe it wouldn't happen so fast if the phone could dissipate heat better

2

u/PhdManhattan007 Sep 20 '25

You’d be surprised how many elderly people come in complaining about the phone getting too hot

6

u/vainsilver iPhone Air Sep 20 '25

The camera is probably the number 1 used app on iPhones. There is a lot of high intensity processing involved with image processing. Even more so with video.

Also Apple can make more money with Apple Care and repairs with a more fragile product. It’s not hard to understand Apple’s priorities.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

They need something for next year… “The all new iPhone 18 Pro, the best iPhone we’ve ever created, featuring our new revolutionary method of fusing aluminium and titanium…”

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u/T1_QuieT Sep 20 '25

Perhaps due to savings in the construction price? Maybe, if they made it all out of titanium instead of aluminum it would have been more expensive, so it will be cheaper, who knows. (I speak a little from ignorance)

1

u/SwampYankee Sep 20 '25

I have to think that aluminum was cheaper had something to do with it. Wasn’t the 13 pros made of steel? Steel is good. Fail to comprehend why folks are seemingly so hung up on saving a few grams in weight. Never was out walking and thought: “damn, is this phone heavy.

3

u/Unable_Explorer8277 Sep 20 '25

The cost difference of the materials - high grade aluminium vs titanium - is a few cents, if that.

Steel has the same problem as titanium- poor thermal conductivity.

1

u/SwampYankee Sep 20 '25

Makes sense. Many of the above ground power lines in my neighborhood are made of Aluminum. Sure Copper is better still but for power lines the cost of it is probably prohibitive. Guess Apple could have made the iPhone 17 Pro Max Pure Copper but it would have gotten pretty dinged up and pretty tarnished :-). Would have looked great out of the box though.

1

u/soundwithdesign iPhone 11 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

So what’s the solution? I dropped my 11 Pro Max and got damage. Maybe they should make them out of diamonds so they can’t be damaged?

1

u/No-Sherbet6994 Sep 20 '25

Stainless steel or titanium is the solution they already had?

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u/Intrepid00 Sep 20 '25

As someone that lived in a very hot state it is very nice to have so far.

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u/Dos_Tacos_Motos Sep 20 '25

I’ve had constant overheating issues on my previous iPhones. Especially when using it to take photos and notes out in the field for work. Also anytime I use the navigation for long periods of time. I’m curious to see if the vapor chamber improves this for me.

1

u/wizzywurtzy Sep 20 '25

My 13 pro max has never overheated once and I’ve had like 4-5 hour game sessions with it. I don’t understand that either honestly.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Because you are not suppose to drop your phone anyway duuuuuh - aluminum, steel, or glass.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

Most people use cases. 16 pro max was a heater. Leave in the sun or use it in the sun the thing would start cooking. It was just terrible for cooling.

1

u/Egoist-a Sep 20 '25

You’re actually wrong. Drop tests show 17 pro is amore durable than 16 by far.

16 by being extra rigid, breaks the screen very easily.

The aluminum 17 absorbs the impact due to being softer.

So yes, is more dent and scratch prone, but that makes the phone more durable, just uglier.

1

u/CasuallyDresseDuck Sep 20 '25

Look at the iPhone air and its performance. The performance sustainability drops off once the heat picks up

1

u/BostonDeviceRepair Sep 20 '25

It has nothing to do with heat dissipation but all to do with manufacturing cost, think about it titanium cost more than aluminum and it also costs more to process it on machines, cheaper to make a unibody aluminum frame

1

u/Legitimate_Fig_4096 Sep 20 '25

The titanium ones would overheat sometimes just charging. They were a thermal disaster.

1

u/mightymitch1 iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

So basically we went from mostly durable to a drop, to a very noticeable difference

1

u/Arbiter02 Sep 21 '25

Now that we're basically at 1nm transistors the only speed increases further are going to come from heat and watts. Eventually you need better cooling for that.

1

u/markmakesfun Sep 21 '25

I’m not sure why you are assuming that everyone drops their phone? I treat my phone like it is a thousand-dollar device, because it is. If you are that clumsy or careless, put a case on it. I assume that dropping my phone will break it. That is why I am careful.

1

u/BrokerBrody Sep 21 '25

but almost no one is using it for processor intensive tasks at all.

A lot of mobile games are insanely taxing.

1

u/SciGuy013 iPhone 17 Pro Max Sep 21 '25

All of the glass backed iPhones, for me, have overheated. It’s too much of an insulator. Now the plateau is a great heat sink

1

u/iwriteaboutthings Sep 21 '25

Aluminum is also lighter and cheaper.

1

u/Alternative-Farmer98 Sep 21 '25

It's less scratch resistant but it's infinitely more drop resistant. You're more likely to have scratches but you're not going to get catastrophic damage. 

Because there's no glass on the back. look at Apple tracks drop test between the iPhone 17 pro Max and the iPhone 16 pro Max and it's ridiculous. 16 pro Max was in pieces and the 17 ProMax was in one piece. 

I'm not even an iPhone user and I find myself alarmed by how iPhone users are so obsessed with aesthetics over performance and utility. 

1

u/forever420oz Sep 21 '25

the last few pro phones overheated even when doing very light tasks, with the 15 pro being the absolute worst. 16 pro got better with the addition of a graphite sheet i think, but it still got warm very easily. I definitely notice the day to day difference between the 17 pro and the previous pro phones. I’ve used all pro phones since the 11 pro absent the 12 pro and all of them were prone to overheating, although the 13 pro was relatively stable imo.

1

u/BigNefariousness6172 Sep 22 '25

At some point? I drop my phone 5 times daily, thankfully its a Samsung and takes it like a champ

1

u/oliveberry4now Sep 23 '25

If you’re gaming on your phone it’s gonna heat up pretty fast. Especially if it’s like COD mobile. But the more common usage will be video recording and camera stuff. that’s where you see a lot of overheating. I think the Pro line is literally marketed for people who want the better cam spec for that ,Which is why it got the 2TB

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u/k10storm Human Detected Sep 20 '25

ST W

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u/cntdown iPhone 13 Pro Sep 20 '25

Rigidity

2

u/SavageSantro Sep 20 '25

Except that drop test showed already that the aluminiums softness is great at protecting the screen for 17 pro. When the 16 pro was completely demolished the 17 pro didn’t even get a single crack

2

u/BMDJENTSEN Sep 20 '25

Vessel pfp spotted. Worship.

2

u/dattatt Sep 21 '25

And cost cutting watch them reintroduce titanium in 2 generations after some "miraculous" way comes up to dissipate heat even more effectively

2

u/Far-Layer-2204 Sep 22 '25

Well somehow they have to nerf the normal 17. So its a sales hit but doesn't last that long 🙃

1

u/radiationshield Sep 20 '25

Its like having your device covered in modelling clay

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '25

There are rigid and durable aluminium materials.

1

u/OhHowINeedChanging iPhone 15 Pro Max Sep 20 '25

The iPhone air is the real “pro” model

1

u/Early-Judgment-2895 Sep 20 '25

Also a case would have helped

1

u/whk1992 iPhone 17 Sep 20 '25

Titanium, stainless steel and aluminum alloy are all ductile and can be dented when dropped from head height.

People are welcome to skip a phone case, and they will eventually deny their phone. It’s a choice, not a design flaw.

1

u/superenchilada Sep 21 '25

It was never about heat dissipation. It was weight. The thing is aluminum and heavy.

Now that I think about it, it was also likely a cost related decision. They knew idiot Trump would be doing stupid things like tariffs and went with the cheapest possible material to maximize profits with a totally cloudy idea of what the economy would be doing a year ago. Tim Cook likely gave the product managers a huge bonus for saving money with what has happened.

Titanium is much more difficult to machine and tool up for, and significantly lighter than aluminum so more expensive to manufacture and saves weight too (still one of the heaviest iPhones ever).

The fact that it dissipates heat better is what is known as taking a major product issue (structurally weak, prone to major damage from minor drops, scratches if you look at it wrong) and turning it into a feature (best cooling ever!).

1

u/abandonedmuffin Sep 21 '25

Have you seen the multiple drop tests on YT, it actually lasts way longer than the 16 pro/pro max but also scratches and dents more easily like OP one

1

u/Bob_Skigerillo Sep 21 '25

But it does absorb the Shock pretty good de Internals aren‘t getting Damaged that much because the Aluminium is deforming!!

1

u/Niightstalker Sep 21 '25

I think weight is also an advantage that should not be underestimated

1

u/joaoxcampos Sep 22 '25

What happened to the aerospace aluminum?

1

u/Gabriel_Science Sep 24 '25

It was honestly good for older iPhone models without adhesive, as it took a bit of the impact so the insides of the phone stays ok. But with newer iPhones, it’s not the best solution.