00:00As an Android user, I'm extremely jealous of how the iPhone 17 Pro is built. However,
00:06Apple forgot to do one really important thing. They ignored an international standard,
00:11and it's going to haunt every single person who buys this phone. And there's no way to fix it.
00:17The colorful exterior aluminum oxide anodized layer on the iPhone is a level 9 on Mohs scale
00:23of hardness. Second in hardness only to diamonds, which are a level 10. We'll talk more about this
00:29in a second, but in order to achieve that durable oxide layer, the bare aluminum frame is dipped into
00:35an acidic electrolyte bath and then electrified. It's a really cool process to watch and happens
00:41very quickly. However, the sharp corners like the ones you see here on the iPhone 17 Pro camera plateau
00:47are the literal Achilles heel of anodizing. It's the weakest point of the coating since there's not
00:54enough substrate or aluminum at that sharp corner to securely hold the top aluminum oxide in place.
01:00And Apple went and made the literal sharpest cliff possible here on the iPhone 17 Pro.
01:05For some reason, Apple didn't add a chamfer, fillet, or radius around the camera plateau,
01:10and I think it was intentional. So it looks cooler. But that decision to look cool out of the box is
01:16going to plague everyone who owns this phone down the road. And I'll show you physically what I mean.
01:21I do still have to buy a big knife, get a little jerry-rigged knife free deal going to the end of
01:25the month. Just add them both to your cart at the same time and the discount is automatic.
01:30But let's not get distracted. Jumping in to get a closer look with the digital microscope – this
01:35thing is so fun – we can first scope into the leaf of the Apple logo. But that's not what we came
01:40here to see. The cliff Apple has milled into the aluminum has no chamfer, bevel, or fillet,
01:46and it's about as straight up and down as aluminum can get. And you'll see why that's a problem here
01:51in a second. And don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of the switch from a glass slab sandwich to this
01:57new aluminum unibody design. Overall it's more durable. Aluminum is a Mohs 3 or 4 on the Mohs
02:02scale of hardness, while glass is a 5 or 6. Unless of course we're talking about Corning's new ceramic
02:08shield 2, in which case some black magic somehow makes the marks at level 6 and 7 almost disappear.
02:14The level 8 pick behaves like usual though, and gashes through the glass with no problem.
02:20The front 18 megapixel camera is also protected under the same slab of ceramic shield 2. This
02:25has the new square sensor inside, which hopefully we'll see more of during the teardown. The camera
02:30sits just below the razor thin earpiece slit, and part of me is curious if just rubbing the
02:35pro on a table is enough to snap those corners off of the camera plateau.
02:39But nope, so far so good. And of course while the ceramic shield 2 is indeed the best we've ever
02:49seen, glass is still glass. And it's never a bad idea to add a layer of protection to your phone,
02:55especially in this economy where resale value is extremely important.
03:00The prism glass from my channel sponsor dbrand has a foolproof installation procedure with its own
03:04applicator, placing the clear protective slab of glass perfectly in place every time.
03:11I'll leave a link for the prism glass in the description. It comes with 2 in the box.
03:15You might be like, hey Jerry, if the anodizing is actually a level 9, why does it scratch at all?
03:21And that's a fantastic question. The decorative anodizing that Apple applies to the surface of
03:25their phone could be anywhere from 2 to 25 micrometers in thickness. That's about 0.025 millimeters or
03:33less than half the diameter of a human hair. Not that I would know. It's a tough colorful shell,
03:38tougher than regular paint to be sure, just not super thick, which means it's not invincible.
03:44The top of the iPhone 17 Pro has a plastic 5G antenna slot, and the left side has more of the brilliant
03:50orange anodizing and 3 buttons that will not be popping off on their own. The bottom of the 17 Pro
03:56has its USB-C port that can charge to 50% in about 20 minutes, as well as the lower stereo loudspeaker,
04:02which the new iPhone Air does not have. I think it'll be pretty cool to see what changes have
04:07happened on the inside, so make sure you're subscribed for the teardowns.
04:11The Apple logo on the cosmic orange is perfectly in place, like surprisingly well aligned with the glass
04:17etching. Thumbs up for that. Then at the top we have our 48 megapixel wide angle camera,
04:23then the 48 megapixel main camera down at the bottom, and the 48 megapixel 4x telephoto off to
04:30the side. All of which are still covered with Apple's version of sapphire crystal. You can see the
04:35lenses registering on my diamond tester, while my Casio F91W does not. The single LED flash has a plastic
04:43diffuser, and then whatever laser focus thing this is on the other corner is protected with glass.
04:49While we're up here it's time to see if I'm correct about that edge being fragile. Let's say you have
04:54your phone in the same pocket as a coin. Pretty normal everyday situation. The exterior level 9
05:00anodizing layer is able to withstand any abrasion from that coin except for on the sharp corner of the
05:06camera plateau. The corner of the plateau is rubbed off and gone. What about keys though? We've tested
05:16keys on anodizing before, and everywhere the oxide has been allowed to secure itself to the aluminum
05:22is protected from scratching. Except for the sharp corner of the camera plateau. Again after one
05:28incursion with a foreign object, that corner is now gone. Looking again through the microscope,
05:33the orange aluminum oxide is still looking fly, except for where it's not, and the silver is shining
05:39through. I think the deep blue anodizing is going to be even more susceptible to damage. The same coin
05:45that on the flat portion of the plateau gets sanded into dust, on the corner the anodizing is what chips
05:50away. The key, same thing. The plateau itself is super scratch resistant except for where Apple did not
05:57add the radius or curve to the plateau. The aesthetic design choice is going to end up looking worse in
06:02the long run because the anodizing just doesn't stick to that spot. It's a tad weird that Apple
06:07would do this. It's a well known phenomenon, and there are several international standards for
06:12anodizing sharp corners. None of these are legally binding laws by the way, just voluntary guidelines
06:17that manufacturers can follow if they want. The ISO standard says that sharp edges should be machined
06:22into a radius 10 times the intended thickness, which if Apple is using 25 micrometer thick anodizing,
06:29the minimum radius would be between a quarter and half a millimeter. The US military standard says
06:34about the same thing, a radius anywhere between a quarter and half a millimeter. But Apple just
06:40didn't follow either of those public suggestions. I'm sure the engineers at Apple suggested a fillet.
06:45It's usually the designers who veto smart ideas. On the blue camera shelf you can see how a good chunk
06:51of that anodizing near the edge just sheared off like an iceberg in the arctic. And don't get me wrong,
06:56I am a massive fan of this new iPhone design. Less glass and more aluminum is always a good thing when
07:02it comes to durability. These chips are purely cosmetic and won't affect the functionality of
07:07the phone. Just remember when damage does happen that it's not your imagination and not your fault.
07:13It's Apple's design because anodizing doesn't stick to corners. The smaller piece of textured glass on
07:18the back is just as abrasive as the anodized coatings and is very impervious to scratching. The dust just
07:24wipes away. If Apple would have added the same millimeter fillet to the camera plateau that they
07:29have everywhere else on the phone, there wouldn't be any issues with chipping. But it would look
07:34different than it does now. As it stands, the weakest point for cosmetic blemishes is going to
07:38be on that sharp edge where the anodizing isn't physically capable of sticking. And there's no way to
07:44avoid the inevitable chipping unless you never set your phone down. Or you know, get a case.
07:49I'm not super nervous about the bend test on this one. It being a solid brick of aluminum and all,
07:56the 6.3 inch 3000 nit 120 hertz super retina OLED display is also not affected by the heat from my
08:03lighter, even after 30 seconds of being torched. Finally, the bend test. There's more metal inside
08:10this 17 Pro than any other iPhone that Apple has ever made. So there's no surprise that it has zero flex,
08:16zero cracks, zero creaks, and zero damage when it comes to structural rigidity. The same goes for
08:22the iPhone 17 Pro Max. No flex, no bins, and 100% no issues whatsoever. The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max
08:31passed my durability test, except for the part where your iPhone 17 Pro is going to chip and there's
08:38nothing you can do to save it. Apple's own transparent case, which isn't all that transparent,
08:43does have a raised lip around the camera plateau, so that will help keep things intact. But if you
08:48want a case that looks even better and more transparent and more protective, I would suggest
08:53the ghost case from dbrand. It has a never yellowing guarantee and has full coverage for that camera
08:59plateau. dbrand's been working with Best Buy on a nationwide retail rollout of the ghost case,
09:04as well as the prism screen protector that you saw earlier. It's already the number one selling
09:09phone case nationwide for good reason. I'll leave a link down in the description where you can get
09:1342% off the prism when you bundle both together. Just use code JerryRig at checkout or swing by your
09:19local Best Buy. I'm partial of course to the grip case and my teardown skin though, but to each their
09:24own. Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.
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