The sales of the iPhone 15 series has kicked off in several countries a few days ago. You’ve seen the hype for the series, with throngs of people lining up outside Apple Stores around the world, and stocks depleting instantly. Fast forward to day, it seems that the hype for the iPhone 15 series–particularly the Pro Max with is tetraprism camera–is starting to wane, as various issues start to pop up. And yes, there’s quite a lot.

A smudge magnet

The first problem that surfaced involves the titanium frame of the iPhone 15 Pro series, where it has a tendency to change color even with light use. Apple claims that the discoloration issue is not permanent and explains that the “oil from your skin” can temporarily change the color–which is short of saying that the fancy titanium frame is a smudge magnet. The solution? Just wipe it with a “soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth”.

Considering that the iPhone 15 Pro does not have a glossy finish, this frame discoloration issue is unusual for a phone that will cost you at least Php 71k. Maybe Apple needs to revisit how they coat those titanium frames so that things like this don’t happen.

Durability issues

The use of titanium should make the iPhone 15 Pro more durable compared to using stainless steel. Everyone got surprised that the back glass of the 15 Pro Max shattered during JerryrigEverything’s durability test. If you watched the video, the frame didn’t flex when the back glass shattered.

Even Zack was puzzled at what just happened–he tried to replicate the same test with the smaller iPhone 15 Pro, and that phone did survive. Perhaps Apple has to address some quality control concerns with the glass back they are using, so it’s possible that they might issue a recall if that’s the case. Or maybe some internal design changes can best explain the iPhone 15 Pro’s fragile back panel.

Poor thermal design

The iPhone 15 Pro series rock the first 3nm processor in the world with the A17 Pro, and Apple even bragged during its presentation that it can run console-quality games like Resident Evil Village and Death Stranding. As much as everyone is excited about that, early reports reveal that the A17 Pro suffers from throttling–reaching temperatures as high as 48 degrees in Genshin Impact.

The problem is not with the processor: according to Ming-Chi Kuo, the throttling issue is due to the thermal design of the iPhone 15 Pro, where Apple had to reduce the heat dissipation area inside. It also doesn’t help that titanium has a higher heat conductivity. While Apple is more likely going to roll out a software update to address this, the only way to solve this is to limit the performance of the A17 Pro.

Our take? Wait until these issues are fixed

We understand that some people are very excited to get their hands on a shiny, new iPhone 15 Pro right away, but no one likes to deal with these kinds of issues especially if they saved up for it (fun fact: Filipinos need to work 80 days to buy the regular iPhone 15). Do note that it’s barely a month since the entire iPhone 15 lineup has gone official, so Apple will most likely address these concerns in the coming weeks. Hopefully, all iPhone 15 variants will be free of any issue before the year ends.