Tag Titanium

If you thought a $1199 price tag was expensive, this $8630 special-edition gold-plated iPhone 15 Pro clearly isn’t for you!

The folks at Caviar, known for giving smartphones a highly blinged makeover, are back with their luxury-driven take on the latest Apple offering. With as many as 63 designs to choose from, Caviar decided to look at the iPhone 15 Pro’s titanium chassis and say “We can do better”. The various models showcase a variety of materials and finishes, including the use of gold, crystals, and even marbled carbon fiber. They start at a respectable $6,700, going up to an eye-watering half a million for a version made of white gold and actual diamond gemstones.

Designer: Caviar

Dubbed ‘Notorious’, this is one of Caviar’s more ornate pieces, paying homage to the Colt 1911 handgun. The phone comes with a top-to-bottom makeover, including a new aviation-grade titanium backplate to replace Apple’s own glass backplate. The titanium plate is PVD-coated with black and finished with 24k gold details. The frame around the side is electroplated with 24k gold too, as are the rings around the camera lenses. Finally, the phone is outfitted with a solid gold bas-relief gun, with a wooden insert on the handle. This bad-boy won’t shoot bullets, but it’ll shoot the best damn pictures on the planet.

The ‘Notorious’ iPhone 15 Pros are legitimate pieces of art. Every corner of the phone has some amount of detailing or graphic, replacing the otherwise bland iPhone canvas with something more than just an Apple logo. The pieces aren’t just put together on top of the iPhone either. Caviar makes custom backplates for each phone, factoring in tolerances, the MagSafe ring and charging coil, etc. while the frame around the side is also made to integrate into the phone, giving you a device that feels as sleek as possible. That 3D relief gun excluded, obviously.

Caviar’s pieces aren’t for tech aficionados, clearly. The phone’s made for true collectors, quite like people who indulge in Rolexes, Patek Philippes, Bugattis, and Rolls-Royces. These aren’t the kinds of phones you’d want to slap a case on (you couldn’t even if you tried), and they’re made to be surrounded by an elite team of bodyguards, not simply slipped into your pant pockets.

With a starting price of $8630 for the iPhone 15 Pro (128 Gb), the ‘Notorious’ phone isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, it’s limited to just 99 units, and also comes with a sim-tray unlike the ones available in the US. Each phone is made to order and takes roughly 1-5 days to complete, following which the phone comes shipped to you in, lets say, more than just an Apple iPhone box. Each of the 99 Notorious iPhone 15 Pros come in a decked-out briefcase with golden details, a certificate of authenticity, and the phone itself. No, I wouldn’t know if there’s a gold-plated USB-C cable included…

For a company that’s been so bullish on Aluminum (or aluminium as Jony Ive called it), Apple’s gradual shift to titanium feels like an end of an era. For two decades, Apple has pretty much revolutionized the use of aluminum in technology, but hey… it’s the future, we’re about to colonize Mars, and it’s high time we thought bigger, right? Well, the folks at Apple certainly think so, having unveiled their first iPhone made out of titanium. This isn’t the first time Apple’s made a gadget out of titanium (the Apple Watch Ultra from last year holds that distinction), and it certainly isn’t the first time any company has made a phone out of titanium. In 2015, the Turing Phone boasted a titanium body, and in 2017, the Essential Phone from Andy Rubin touted the same titanium construction. However, nobody does fanfare as well as Apple, and they’ve pretty much put a spotlight on the fact that the iPhone 15 Pro is their first-ever iPhone crafted from titanium; and not just ordinary titanium, but Grade 5 titanium. So… what is Grade 5 titanium, you ask?

What is Grade 5 Titanium?

Just by itself, Titanium is a standout metal known for its high strength, low density, biocompatibility, and corrosion resistance. Grade 5, commonly referred to as Ti-6Al-4V, is an alloy of titanium that includes 6% Aluminum and 4% Vanadium. This combination amplifies the metal’s strength, making it the go-to titanium grade for various high-performance applications in aerospace, racing, and human implants… and even a hot favorite for the EveryDay Carry (EDC) community.

Grade 5 vs. Regular Titanium?

Standard commercial pure titanium, often referred to as “Grade 1” or “Grade 2,” is robust and corrosion-resistant. However, when you mix it with aluminum and vanadium to produce Grade 5 Titanium, you get a metal that’s about twice as strong as its basic counterpart. Moreover, while pure titanium grades boast commendable corrosion resistance, especially against oxygen, Grade 5 takes it a step further by offering enhanced resistance against wear and fatigue. This unique combination of properties makes Grade 5 not just an upgrade but rather a different league, setting a gold standard in high-performance low-weight materials.

Comparing Titanium with Steel and Aluminum

1. Strength and Weight: When pitted against steel, titanium stands out for its impressive strength-to-weight ratio. Titanium alloys, like Grade 5, offer strengths comparable to many steels, but at nearly half the weight. Aluminum, previously used in iPhone models, is lighter than titanium but doesn’t come close in terms of strength.
2. Corrosion Resistance: Both titanium and aluminum resist corrosion well. However, titanium has the edge, especially in saline or chlorine-rich environments. Titanium’s corrosion resistance is significantly superior compared to steel, especially if it’s not ‘stainless’ or treated in other ways.
3. Thermal Expansion: Titanium’s thermal expansion rate is closer to that of glass. When used in something like a smartphone, this becomes crucial. An iPhone screen is essentially glass, and by using a metal with a similar expansion rate, the risk of structural integrity loss due to temperature fluctuations is minimized.
4. Flexibility: One of the understated properties of titanium is its flexibility. While steel can be rigid and aluminum might be too pliable, titanium strikes a balance, giving devices like the iPhone 15 Pro resilience against bending or deformation.

Is a Titanium iPhone really THAT special?

Truth be told, it seems like the titanium build is, in some ways, an over-correction for bend-gate. It wasn’t particularly a great time in Apple’s history, with people folding and snapping their aluminum iPhones in half, and since then, Apple’s worked hard to make sure people don’t turn their smartphones into tacos for the internet to enjoy. The company transitioned to Stainless Steel for their Pro iPhone models, and one could say that was pretty much as strong as anyone needed their iPhone chassis to be. Titanium is overkill at this point, especially given that with any iPhone, the true weakness lies in the glass front and back… and not the metal frame itself. Sure, the company’s developed Ceramic Shield, but drop it on the floor and it’ll still probably shatter while the outer metal frame doesn’t as much as get a lasting scratch. Now Apple hasn’t specifically highlighted the phone’s rugged durability and toughness, they’ve only mentioned how tough titanium is ‘as a material’, listing its accomplishments on the earth and in outer space. The phone isn’t made entirely of titanium either – it still has an internal aluminum framework, with an aerospace-grade titanium band on the outside. How does that benefit the consumer? Well, it doesn’t in the ways you think, but you’re bound to notice how luxuriously thin the iPhone 15 Pro is when compared to previous steel models. Apple also highlights that using Grade 5 Titanium also allowed them to make the chassis thinner and push the bezels even further to the edge, resulting in a more expansive-looking screen that’s just great to look at… if you’ve got upwards of $999 to pay for it!

Read More – iPhone 15 Pro Hands On: Lighter, Snazzier, and a real Pinky-Saver

It feels almost like destiny that Apple launches great products, but leaves the onus of designing great accessories to third parties. Sandmarc is one such company that’s benefitted greatly from this arrangement, rising to prominence for their pro-quality photography and videography accessories for the iPhone… but the company isn’t stopping there. After designing some of the best-in-class camera lenses and filming rigs for the iPhone, Sandmarc is giving the Watch Ultra something it truly deserves – a great complementary strap/band.

Not everyone who owns the Watch Ultra buys it because of its high-endurance sports and training features… so the idea of having a watch strap designed for trekking or deep-sea diving doesn’t really appeal to the average consumer who just wants to be able to flaunt their high-end smartwatch. In comes Sandmarc’s Apple Watch Ultra Band, an Oyster-style band made from grade-2 titanium with just the right color and finish to match the Watch Ultra perfectly. Slip the band on and it honestly looks like it was designed by Apple, and turns your extreme smartwatch into the luxurious-looking haute timepiece you need it to be! After all, who in their right state of mind would want to wear a silicone band into a boardroom meeting, am I right?!

Designer: Sandmarc

The luxurious Grade-2 titanium band quite literally turns your Apple Watch Ultra into a Rolex or Tag Heuer-style haute timepiece. Its finish matches the slight champagne color of the Watch Ultra perfectly, blending in so well you’d think Apple designed the band too.

The band’s wide body complements the Watch Ultra’s large-ish design perfectly too, doing a far better job of visually integrating with the timepiece than any of Apple’s own watches. After all, it isn’t purpose-built for function – it’s purpose-built for fashion.

Machined from grade-2 titanium with a scratch-resistant glass film coating, the watch band is lightweight, waterproof, and just as durable as the Watch Ultra. The entire band measures 190mm (7.48 inches) and weighs 2 ounces (57 grams), being nearly 40% lighter than its stainless steel counterparts. Each band relies on stainless steel connectors that allow you to attach it to the Watch Ultra, and the band also ships with an adjustment tool that lets you remove one of the Oyster-style links to fit your wrist perfectly.

The Sandmarc Grade 2 Titanium Watch Ultra Band starts at $199, which shouldn’t sound like much if you already splurged $799 on the smartwatch, to begin with. Each titanium band is also rigorously tested at a third-party lab for quality and chemical analysis, so the bands can endure everything the Apple Watch Ultra was designed for… whether it’s a lavish boardroom, the snowy tundras, a desert trek, or even the depths of the sea!