This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
When your super-premium brand-new phone looks like hell in just one month of use, I think you have a serious problem.
Apple touted the new aluminum design of the iPhone 17 Pro series as great for heat dissipation, and while we found that to be true, dang is it also true that this phone is fragile.
I'm careful with my tech, yet the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max that I've used for short periods of time look dinged and scratched up big time. And this just looks strange considering just how durable previous iPhones were. Apple used a titanium frame on the 16 Pro and 15 Pro series, and earlier than that Pro iPhones were made with a stainless steel frame. I have used both titanium and stainless steel iPhones for month, and except for micro-scratches on the display, the sides of the phones did not accumulate much damage at all.
It's a strange contrast, this. I am daily driving the iPhone Air, a much thinner and supposedly more fragile phone, but contrary to what you might think, it looks brand new thanks to its much more durable titanium construction.
The iPhone Air I have been using for more than a month still looks brand new
And here is one other strange new development — iPhones now have excellent scratch-resistance on the screens. And that was the problematic part! Now, it seems much easier to scratch the aluminum frame than it is to scratch the display.
Unless Apple’s trying to make “worn-out chic” the next big aesthetic trend, this new aluminum finish feels like a design misstep. A $1,200 flagship shouldn’t need a case just to survive normal life.
Is aluminum really the problem?
The biggest iPhone rival, the Galaxy S25 Ultra uses a titanium frame, so it's no surprise that it looks pristine even after a year of use and abuse in the office.
But the iPhone 17 Pro is certainly not the only aluminum phone around. In fact, Google's Pixel 10 Pro series also use an aluminum frame, but those phones don't look nearly as aged as a month-old iPhone.
The reason for that might be the choice of color and finish. Aluminum is a material with a natural silvery tone, so if you opted for a silver iPhone 17 Pro, chances are those scratches won't be that noticeable.
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Scuffs are not quite as noticeable on the Cosmic Orange model, but not invisible either (Image by PhoneArena)
But a bright silver scratch on a dark, navy blue iPhone? Very obvious! Similarly, the Cosmic Orange version of this new iPhone is only a slight improvement, as you can see the scrapes easily there too.
Apple, ironically, was first to make titanium a selling point with the iPhone 15 Pro. But now, just two years later, it’s walking backward.
Other materials
Titanium and aluminum are not the only game in town. Nope, we are not going back to plastic iPhones, but some of the best-feeling, most durable phones ever made were ceramic. Xiaomi, Oppo, and even OnePlus have flirted with ceramic back models that look pristine for years. These ceramic finishes also resist scratches, and feel nice in the hand.
The downside is a bit of added weight and higher cost. But when you’re charging over $1,200 for a "Pro Max" device, that shouldn't be a viable excuse.
Ceramic also has that luxury feel that aluminum simply just can't match. And worse yet, Apple knows this very well. The company used ceramic materials in the Apple Watch Edition for years, making a point about its "durability and elegance." Yet when it comes to the iPhone, we are back to weight savings and thermals.
Premium should mean lasting
Right now, there is one solution to this problem: carry your brand new iPhone 17 Pro device in a case. Or wear velvet gloves when you touch it.
Apple has jumped between two extremes, once with a titanium phone with poor heat dissipation and then to an aluminum phone with bold colors that show scratches too easily.
We need to find that happy medium, so that our $1,000+ iPhones live up to the Pro name in durability.
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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.
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