Apple used a specific aluminum alloy within the iPhone 17 Pro Max to ensure the model's beefed-up heat dissipation capacity. However, that alloy is now leading to worrying cases of people's phones being dented even when secured by a case, negating the entire raison d'être for encasing your iPhone 17 Pro Max in the first place.
Apple uses a 5080-series aluminum alloy for the iPhone 17 Pro Max and a 6000-series one for the base iPhone 17, leading to very different denting outcomes
Erica Griffin recently posted images of her dented Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max, clearly showing the frame damage despite the fact that her phone was encased within a plastic shell.
The tipster Schrödinger then explained the root cause behind this apparent fragility: the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max uses a 5080-series aluminum alloy for improved thermal management. This alloy, however, renders the iPhone 17 Pro Max much more susceptible to damage than the base iPhone 17 variant, which uses a 6000-series aluminum alloy.
This comes as we reported a few months back that the alloy used within the frame of the iPhone 17 Pro Max renders the phone vulnerable to corner impacts.
Of course, the iPhone 17 Pro Max features a laser-welded aluminum chamber that contains deionized water, which absorbs heat from the components and turns into vapor, effectively cooling down the critical components in close proximity. The vapor then moves away from the heat source, cools by transferring heat to the outer frame, and turns back into liquid water. The cycle continues to repeat.
Even so, given the apex iPhone 17 variant's powerful A20 Pro chip, Apple chose to use an aluminum alloy with an improved heat dissipation profile to prevent thermal throttling issues. This decision, however, is now costing some users dearly in terms of the overall aesthetics of their pricey phone.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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