People are already breaking their new iPhones (and not always on purpose)
Happy New iPhone Day!
And what better way to celebrate the launch of the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 family than by smashing them to pieces?
That's right, just hours after the iPhone launched, users are already breaking their iPhones — sometimes on purpose.
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Early users have discovered that the iPhone 17 Pro's new aluminum unibody (the iPhone 16 Pro used titanium) is prone to scratches, and users are sharing photos of scratched-up demo iPhones on display at Apple Stores around the world. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman even speculates this is why we didn't get the black iPhone 17 Pro — the anodized aluminum body is too prone to scratching, and black gives away the game, he says.
However, some poor, unfortunate souls simply decided to tempt fate and left the Apple Store without slipping their new $1,199 smartphone into a matching case. You can spare yourself from this fate by picking out an iPhone 17 Pro case before buying your iPhone. (You can get a good one for as little as $15.99, folks.)
We should note that we can't verify the user photos showing broken iPhones. In the generative AI era, it's all too easy to falsify images. However, images like these are spreading on X, Instagram, and TikTok, so we're sharing them.
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While some iPhones are lost to acts of god, some pro users are also deliberately taking apart their new iPhones and showing off their innards for all the world to see. Popular YouTubers like Jerryrigeverything are known for these types of breakdown videos.
For instance, tech tester Marcus Cupello has been doggedly trying to break the new ultra-thin iPhone Air, which does have a titanium body.
You can see the iPhone Air bend (but not break) in Cupello's stress tests. He goes even further, attacking the iPhone Air with a hammer, a bowl of water, a screwdriver, and more tools.
Expect to see more of these types of videos post-iPhone day as intrepid tech bloggers rip apart their new Apple phones to see what's under the titanium or aluminum hood. (Please don't try this at home!) Unfortunately, Mashable's budget doesn't allow us to buy an iPhone Air simply to destroy it, but we are eager to see who successfully breaks the iPhone Air first.
Timothy Beck Werth is the Tech Editor at Mashable, where he leads coverage and assignments for the Tech and Shopping verticals. Tim has over 15 years of experience as a journalist and editor, and he has particular experience covering and testing consumer technology, smart home gadgets, and men’s grooming and style products. Previously, he was the Managing Editor and then Site Director of SPY.com, a men's product review and lifestyle website. As a writer for GQ, he covered everything from bull-riding competitions to the best Legos for adults, and he’s also contributed to publications such as The Daily Beast, Gear Patrol, and The Awl.
Tim studied print journalism at the University of Southern California. He currently splits his time between Brooklyn, NY and Charleston, SC. He's currently working on his second novel, a science-fiction book.
