iPhone 17 Scratchgate is real, iFixit warns – buy a case for your fancy phone

Owners of Apple's iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have been reporting that the shell of their pricey handsets is getting scratched up already, and the reason appears to be a shift to aluminum. The two handsets introduced at Apple's annual iPhone marketing event in September featured an anodized aluminum shell, rather than the …

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not sure I understand how a phone as fiddly to repair as ifixit describes could possibly justify a repairability rating as high as "7". But then again, from personal experience, I'd personally score a 2022 iphone SE as a "1" out of 10, and I believe ifixit gave it a "6"..... (Yes, I'm biased, I have a fairphone 4 which has had both a broken screen and broken charging port replaced by me).

[Anonymous Coward]

Frame strength benefits without using a ton

Probably my minimum expectation of a mobile phone that's not self-propelled.

[MachDiamond]

Maxihard

Sharp edges are a problem with metal plating and standard anodizing on Al can be an issue. If the underlying grade of Aluminum is too ductile (soft), it will deform and a hard oxide layer will come off. There's also "hard" anodizing but you'd only get an industrial grey or black color. I used it for tooling with a Teflon impregnation and it worked great. I think the Aluminum was a heat-treated 7075, which is a bit harder than 6061 and much harder than 2024.

Aluminum reacts with Oxygen almost immediately so any scratch becomes oxidized right away. It's not going to look pretty if the Ano color wasn't sliverish to begin with.

I've known many people that break phone after phone through being careless with them. Mine tend to work until the tech shifts and they won't work with the network anymore or they are really obsolete and can't run a new calculator program. I also don't live neck deep in my phone so it's not always out and in my hand. Even with that, I have a case on it. The time I'd drop it and have it break to where it's unusable is in the middle of the night when I've had a breakdown and I'm on the side of a country lane in the sleet (plain snow would be an improvement).

If you want it to stay pretty, you have to be careful with it. Is it a tool or a fashion accessory?

[DS999]

Re: Maxihard

Yep they've used aluminum before, but have always had beveled edges (i.e. rounded corners) and even had bevels on their recent titanium models where it was less necessary.

I imagine some designer left over from the Jony Ive days decided they should switch things up and adopt sharper edges. The problem is that when Apple is testing new models they ALWAYS use a bulky case, because they want to "hide" the new phone when it is out in public - similar to how car companies put a dazzler paint job on new models when they're outside to try to hide their actual shape from telephoto lenses pointed at their test track. So they may have been caught off guard by it, though surely they must have had a few materials engineers warning them but the designers often win in such disputes.

I bet we see a return to beveled edges with the iPhone 18. At least the aluminum case has done what matters and really helped with the heat distribution. Even the base model that lacks the vapor chamber is much less prone to a hot spot based on reviewers thermal camera photos.

[wolfetone]

Re: Maxihard

"I bet we see a return to beveled edges with the iPhone 18."

And it'll be called a world's first innovation.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maxihard

I'd imagine that the Russia influence on titanium will wane - they have been the main source, but there's ample resources in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway (and China and some other less democratic countries, but they may choose to pander to Russia). Whilst upgrading processing facilities is a challenge, titanium is essential for aerospace and defence applications, so it'll happen regardless of Apple's cosmetic needs.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maxihard

The *Aluminium of my iPhone 15 Plus dine .. because it’s in a fucking case. That’s what you do with a £7-800 device.

Same reason as people don’t carry their MacBook Air around in a Tesco Bag for Life, but put it in a backpack etc.

*Perhaps Apple/Foxconn should consider swapping to use some stronger British Aluminium - it puts the I back in Invincible..

[Aldnus]

errrr

so nothing to do with aluminium being a lot softer than Titatnium then, who knew it would scratch.titanium reaches 340 Hb where as the hardest alumium (7075) merely 150HB.

I dont get why youd spend a grand or more and not spend a few for a case any way

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: errrr

Totally agree - if you spend north of a grand on any device adding a few tenners worth of protection should be a default.

TBH, I am interested in the titanium one because of its strength. I just wished they had not given in to their 'thin' fetish because I would have preferred a better battery life, but alas, it's Apple. At least I am not a selfie/photo person so the 256GB default storage is plenty for me (current device sits at half that used, which is the sort of margin I like). And yes, it'll be thicker - I will fit a case.

Despite its super strong screen I would also fit a screenprotector. Not just for protection, but also because I like it matte and oleophobic so you don't see every fingerprint. Personally I would love that to become the standard..

[phil_4]

What's the use of using aluminium to disperse heat if to keep it looking half decent, you put it in a case? I doubt the plastic in most conducts very well.

[James O'Shea]

A proper case (that is, not an el cheapo one size fits all thing) is spaced away from the back or has vents or both.

[druck]

And what does that sort of case do for the thinness obsession?

[James O'Shea]

I don't care about Jonny Ives and his thinness obsession. I do care about being able to hold the damn device, and a proper case gives me something to grip while protecting the device. This is why the colo(u)rs Apple dreams up for the various devices mean nothing to me; they'll be inside a case. My iPhone 16 has a transparent case, not because I wanted to see the 'Space Black' color, but because that case was available and did what I wanted and wasn't outrageously priced. My iPad has a keyboard case, because I wanted a keyboard; I think that it is 'Silver' or some such color, but I haven't actually seen the back of the device since I put the case on it and I simply don't care. Yes, both are bulkier than they were without the cases. And yes, both survive falls much better. Which is what I care about. My current Windows laptop is showing its age, and will be replaced by a MacBook Pro. Which will get a protective case, as one way that the Lenovo is showing its age is the scratches and scrapes on the device.

Jonny Ives and his fanbois, including his fanbois at Lenovo, can kiss my ass. Thin Is Not In.

[James O'Shea]

Sigh

I usually buy a case for a new phone when I buy the new phone. I learned my lesson with my very first smartphone, an Android, which didn't have a case... and which I dropped in the parking lot in front of the store as I was walking to my car. Minor cosmetic damage, but enough to ensure that I turned right around and got a case for it. Which hid the damage. Too bad that the phone itself was utter shit, but I didn't know that then. (No, it wasn't as a result of my dropping it; assorted fora, in those dim and distant days, had lots of threads about how bad that thing was, I merely had not done proper due diligence before buying, I never made that error again, either.)

[david1024]

Couple of things to emphasize

Excellent video from ifixit. This is why I buy from them whenever I can even if the price isn't the lowest, they pay back triple the difference with information and a trustworthy supply chain.

One: who carries keys anymore and this device? The phone _is_ your key, unless you aren't flexing hard enough. The proles (like me) that still have keys can get a case.

Two: the increases screw count and internal rigid assemblies add stiffness you don't get from glue. While there are drawbacks, it is much stronger and easier to work on than glued construction. We've all gotten good at the glue, but screws are superior in every respect except cost/labor.

The only comment I have on the design specifically is to notice the big F.U. from apple on the spaghetti mess they made of the USB design. There's no reason to integrate the connection into the flex like that. (Especially with the obvious sale on internal connectors that was obviously going on during the rest of the design)