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iPhone Air Features 3D-Printed Titanium USB-C Port With Three Benefits

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In the environment section of its iPhone Air press release this week, Apple revealed that the device is equipped with a 3D-printed titanium USB-C port.

iPhone Air 3D Printed USB C Feature
Apple said the 3D-printed titanium USB-C port offers three benefits compared to one manufactured with a conventional forging process: it is thinner, stronger, and uses 33% less material to be more environmentally friendly.

3D printing for metal is also known as metal additive manufacturing, a process that involves creating objects layer by layer with powdered metal, based on a CAD model.

Despite this manufacturing innovation, the iPhone Air's USB-C port is limited to outdated USB 2 speeds of up to 480 Mb/s for wired data transfer.

Titanium cases for Apple Watch Ultra 3 and higher-end Apple Watch Series 11 models are also made with a 3D-printing process that uses half the raw material as previous generations of each device, according to Apple's announcements.

iPhone Air can be pre-ordered starting this Friday at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, while the new Apple Watch models are available to pre-order now, in the U.S. and many other countries. All of the devices are set to launch Friday, September 19.

Related Roundup: iPhone Air
Buyer's Guide: iPhone Air (Neutral)

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Top Rated Comments

B
Belisama
11 months ago

USB gen 2 is over 20 years old. It's still capped at 480 Mb/s for the planet not profit margin surely. Thanks Tim !
Sorry for being ignorant, but could someone explain why USB speed is so important for iPhones?
I got multiple iPhones since 3GS and I have never been worried about the USB version...
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
L
Lwii2boo
11 months ago
USB gen 2 is over 20 years old. It's still capped at 480 Mb/s for the planet not profit margin surely. Thanks Tim !
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CapitalIdea Avatar
CapitalIdea
11 months ago

USB gen 2 is over 20 years old. It's still capped at 480 Mb/s for the planet not profit margin surely. Thanks Tim !
How often do normal consumers use the port for anything but charging? Seriously.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
Anaxarxes
11 months ago

Sorry for being ignorant, but could someone explain why USB speed is so important for iPhones?
I got multiple iPhones since 3GS and I have never been worried about the USB version...
It is not. People are complaining for the sake of complaining.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Robert.Walter Avatar
Robert.Walter
11 months ago
I find it interesting that it is claimed to be stronger ... that seems unusual since forging processes are renowned for work hardening metals, and aligning grain patterns, and I've never seen any information (haven't looked for it though) that posits objects made with printed metals are stronger than the same objects being forged and run through a clean-up machining process.

I'd think that printed metal objects significantly reduce engineered waste, a/k/a offal, coming from final machining processes (and thus cost) but unless the old forging process was limited somehow, I'm not feeling it.

A part of my career had to do with bulk deformation processes, i.e. cold forging of steel, so my knowledge of titanium's oddities and limitations is limited (although I recall, Porsche Design had to go through a learning curve when they started using Titanium for their consumer products because of a kind of "spring back" effect that Ti apparently had.

Anybody here with knowledge or experience regarding Ti forging or machining? It'd be interesting to hear your thoughts on the hardness via printing vs forging topic.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
turbineseaplane
11 months ago
Glad they were able to make a super thin phone and stlll use a USB-C port.

Looks like it didn't actually "kill innovation" to simply adopt the worldwide standard.

They still have the option to go even thinner with totally port-less, which I expect them to try at some point also.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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