Silver is non-issue. Anything else like the Black Titanium and Blue Titanium phones. I've seen friends who regularly use cases have chips around the camera ring and specs of white on their frame where the coating has worn off
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iPhone 17 Pro Max I question the durability of the colored 17 Pros
- Thread starter ozziegn
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Apple obsessively designs its products to be modern and beautiful then everyone slaps them in £20 plastic case making them thicker, heavier and ugly 🤷♂️
The coating wearing off is my main concern because this will be my first coated phone. Remember, I have always used silver phones in the past. No coating to be worn off like the colored phones.
Yes, it was. iPhone X onwards for the top/pro models were steel until the 15 Pro series switch to titanium.
The last “top” model aluminium phone was iPhone 7.
1. The 17 Pro is far from "beautiful", IMO. It's the ugliest phone Apple has ever designed, and putting it in a case actually improves its looks to me.
2. That said, I don't consider phones as art pieces, precious jewelry or status symbols, they're tools to be used. I don't sit around gazing at them and caressing them - they go in a case to protect them so they keep working, and then they do what they were designed to do. I don't really care what they look like without a case because the only time I'll see them that way is when I take them out of the box brand new to put them in a case, briefly when I occasionally take them out to wipe them down, and when I put them back in a box for trade-in.
3. I don't care about thicker or heavier (within reason), and ugly is subjective. I think phones look better in cases (some cases, anyway), and it allows me to not have to obsess over babying it. I do care just enough about looks that I don't want to carry around a caseless phone that looks like I dragged it down 5 miles of gravel road behind my pickup truck.
According to Google:
“When a polished titanium case is scratched, it often reveals the underlying, lighter "bare" titanium color, contrasting with the polished finish. While titanium is a tough and durable material, the polished finish on the casing is less resistant to scratches than the material itself.“
This aligns with my intuition and is why I chose the white iPhone Air this year, with silver/natural titanium rails.
It’s a head scratcher for sure. I’d love to see in the coming weeks that the black iPhone Air’s polished titanium edges is resistant to scratches for those who go caseless as I’d probably prefer that model.
I don’t know what they did with the X/XS steel edges but they were literally scratch proof in my experience but no other models before or since have had that effect unless they were the white/natural variants being case-less.
The aluminium pros in both orange and blue will suffer, without a doubt. But I fear the black Air will too.
I feel that there is very little risk now with going case-less and without a screen protector - the final boss is the metal edges, especially on the coloured/non-silver models.
I try to always get silver/white for this reason. Doesn't matter if it's a phone, laptop, watch, whatever else. I do not trust colorized metal to stay good looking.
I almost never use a case, and my iPhones have never shown wear from normal use. When I trade them in, the rep often says something like, “wow, this looks brand new”
This. Doesn't matter what colour it is, dark or light, it can get scratched.
If you don't choose to have a case, it's going to pick up scratches over its lifetime even if you absolutely baby it - microscratches from dust/dirt/inside your pocket, rings, coins, keys etc.
Goes without saying but if you're worried about a phone not scratching then it has to be in a case from day one.
Last two iPhones I've had - 13 mini and 15 Pro - both went into cases straight away, both as new a couple of years later when taking them out the case. My 15 Pro doesn't have a single mark on it.
All my phones have had some form of scratches/dents on the frame whether kept in a case or not. As much as I wish my phone was perfect with no scratches its a fact of life and I have much bigger things to worry about than a few scratches/dents where I've dropped it or put it down in a dusty location and never once has it been bad enough to not get full trade in value for it. Only place that I do protect the phone is the screen as scratches on it annoy me and being in dusty/dirty locations it would get destroyed quickly so a cheap screen protector I can change every 6 months is ideal.
In a silicon case, the stainless steel on my 13 Pro and the titanium on my 15 Pro Max have held up perfectly.
Daily use on my M4 MacBook Air, Apple Watch 10, and M4 Magic Keyboard in the past year all have signs of wear or pitting. It comes with the territory.
Daily use on my M4 MacBook Air, Apple Watch 10, and M4 Magic Keyboard in the past year all have signs of wear or pitting. It comes with the territory.
I think Otterbox cases are pretty rough on phones, they designed them a bit off. Very popular company but better cases out there.
I’ve got an old Gold OGSE that held up beautifully over two years; no blemishes whatsoever on the anodized aluminium sides. But even with a case, you’ve got to stay on top of upkeep. Every couple of weeks, it’s worth removing the case and giving both the phone and the case a proper clean.
Slapping on a case and forgetting about it for years isn’t a magic shield. Dirt and lint build up, and over time, they’ll wear down the finish.
Case in point: a mate of mine had a Blue iPhone 13, kept it in a case for three straight years without a single clean. When he finally took it out to sell, the colour had completely vanished, looked like it had been sandblasted.
Slapping on a case and forgetting about it for years isn’t a magic shield. Dirt and lint build up, and over time, they’ll wear down the finish.
Case in point: a mate of mine had a Blue iPhone 13, kept it in a case for three straight years without a single clean. When he finally took it out to sell, the colour had completely vanished, looked like it had been sandblasted.
My 15PM in Titanium Blue has held up beautifully, but seeing scratch test of the 17 Pro series is gut wrenching.
The phones don’t scratch themselves. It always contact with items in close proximity that chews them up.
Rings, bracelet's, watches, pens in shirt pockets, pants with keys, coins, combs, knives, or those new ridged wallets. Cups holders in cars. My wife’s purse is the worse, the contents are like a rock tumbler.
Rings, bracelet's, watches, pens in shirt pockets, pants with keys, coins, combs, knives, or those new ridged wallets. Cups holders in cars. My wife’s purse is the worse, the contents are like a rock tumbler.
That's why I remove the case about once a week to clean out any dust or grit. I just use a plain Apple Silicon case and I have no marks that I can see after a year.
That makes me feel a little better about the orange finish getting worn down. Like I said earlier, I am really careful with my phones and I typically take them out of the case at least once a month to clean just to make sure there's nothing inside between the edges of the phone and the case that would or could cause scuff marks if I can help it.
I saw that a few nights ago watching this unboxing video.
No idea how he scratched it, but wow!
If you use a case, just make sure you clean it out regularly as the blue iPhone 12 I had back in 2020 had some damage from dirt rubbing the anodised coating off where it had chaffed within the case. This is why I wouldn't go for a darker colour and the silver will be much less prone to showing off damage, whether its minor or not.