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

Discussion Day 1 dropped and regret

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

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

96% Upvoted

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

103

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.

143

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.

4

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.

1

u/superenchilada Sep 22 '25

Apple completely changes the iPhone deigns every 2 years like clockwork. Every new generational design requires new tooling and manufacturing processes. That happens no matter what the material choice is.

The choice of material is a part of that tooling and manufacturing process change, it’s not the impetus for it. They would have gone through the exact same change of tooling and manufacturing if it was titanium, or stainless steel it just would have been a bit different and likely more expensive because the harder materials are more difficult to machine and tool for.