What could force Apple to give up titanium frames for the iPhone 17?

President-elect Donald Trump is poised to impose tariffs on China the day he is inaugurated.

That's why Apple and Samsung are already rethinking some of their previous decisions.

A report says that next year's iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max will ditch titanium frames, two years after Apple first embraced the material with the introduction of the iPhone 15 Pro.

According to the informant Jukanlosreve, Trump's return to the White House is one of the reasons why not only Apple, but also Samsung potentially, will give up titanium.

Plausible reasons why Apple might move away from titanium in the iPhone 17 series:

1. Trump's election: Electronics companies like Apple and Samsung are likely to reduce their reliance on Chinese components. Titanium frames are predominantly manufactured by Chinese companies,…

— Jukanlosreve (@Jukanlosreve) November 30, 2024

It is known that China is the world's largest producer of titanium and if the trade war between the East Asian country and the US intensifies, this will make the material more expensive, they write foreign media, the Telegraph reports.

Another possible reason behind the supposed move away from titanium is that despite being more expensive than stainless steel, which is what was used for Apple's premium phones introduced before the iPhone 15 Pro, it didn't offer any significant weight advantage.

iPhone 15 Pro is only 9% lighter than iPhone 14 Pro.

Another potential concern is that titanium could be responsible for the unpleasant heating of Apple phones.

While complaints of overheating have largely subsided following the launch of the iPhone 16 Pro, presumably due to the phone's new cooling architecture, they haven't completely died down, indicating that titanium may not be entirely innocent. /Telegraph/