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The iPhone Is Designed to Be Expensive

Why you don’t care that its stainless-steel construction makes the phone heavier

Apple is no longer the uncontested design titan it once was.

In the not-so-distant past, Apple was light-years ahead of the competition. Just compare the iPhone 4 with the plastic-fantastic Samsung Galaxy S2 in 2011. There’s just no comparing the two. In fact, the iPhone 4 is still considered a modern classic in industrial design.

But now, in 2019, most flagship smartphones feature beautiful bezel-free displays and flush cameras, while the iPhone sports a giant notch and a bulging camera module.

However, one key difference in Apple’s design philosophy separates it from all other flagship smartphones. While competitor phones are focused on designing a premium smartphone, Apple’s hardware design language is in the tradition of luxury product.

The time-consuming process of polishing the iPhone’s stainless-steel surface to a mirror finish is just another manufacturing complexity that adds little practical benefit.

What does this mean, exactly? And why is it important?

First, it means Apple is using materials and manufacturing techniques for the iPhone that no other smartphone manufacturer is using.

Specifically, all recent flagship iPhones (X, XS, 11 Pro) feature a polished stainless-steel band for its case. This is significant because stainless steel is more difficult to work with than other metals, such as aluminum or titanium. On top of that, the time-consuming process of polishing the iPhone’s stainless-steel surface to a mirror finish is just another manufacturing complexity that adds little practical benefit.

But it’s precisely the iPhone’s polished and stainless-steel construction that separates it from the competition in a significant way.

Although comparing the iPhone’s design side by side to its competitors in 2019 is no longer the easy design victory that it was in the past, it’s when you hold the iPhone in your hand that the phone’s construction feels more premium than other smartphones.

What constitutes “premium” is, of course, subjective. But there are design traditions in the luxury accessory industry that clearly distinguish premium from the rest.

What makes luxury accessories premium?

A reliable indicator of a luxury accessory is that it contains materials that are more difficult to procure or manufacture than typical materials. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are more practical or perform better.

When it comes to metals, certain types can be considered more premium than others for one or two reasons. First, the metal itself can be of intrinsic value, such as gold, platinum, or rhodium. Second, certain metals are inherently more difficult to work with or manufacture due to their elemental properties. Stainless steel doesn’t carry much intrinsic value, but as a comparatively hard metal, it’s more difficult (and therefore more expensive) to shape than aluminum or titanium. The machines used to shape stainless steel require more energy, more robust parts, and more maintenance and will, therefore, incur higher costs.

If you were blindfolded and asked to pick up an iPhone XS and its competitor (let’s say the Galaxy S10), the most immediate difference would be its weight. That’s because the iPhone is the only flagship smartphone housed in stainless steel. Competitor flagships, such as the Samsung Galaxy, use aluminum — a much lighter metal than steel. And as we’ll explore further on, Apple is seemingly uninterested in creating a lighter flagship smartphone. That’s because the company’s intention is for its phone to feel premium based on design standards of the luxury accessory industry, not the tech industry. In this regard, the most distinctive part of the iPhone’s design is its polished stainless-steel case.

The correlation between heavy and premium

If there’s one challenge that all haute couture and luxury brands face, it’s counterfeiting. And apart from outright counterfeits, there’s also the issue of cheaper fast-fashion brands stealing the look of a luxury product. An example of this would be Balenciaga’s Triple S trainers and Puma’s Thunder Spectra.

While both shoes may have similar designs, the only meaningful way to distinguish an authentic one from the knockoff is to see the materials the product is made from and the way the product is created. Of course, brand-name appeal may be a large part of the higher cost, but the only foolproof way for a luxury product to separate itself from the rest is to through difficult and/or expensive manufacturing processes. That’s because this is one thing the copycat cannot replicate without incurring disadvantageous costs.

But again, higher manufacturing costs do not necessarily guarantee that the end product will be of higher quality. At its core, the process of creating a luxury accessory is that it is expensive and complex for the sake of being expensive and complex. Balenciaga’s Triple S shoes, for instance, are ridiculously heavy (2,005 grams!) and consist of three separate soles that are glued one on top of the other. In comparison, the Pumas are four times lighter (567 grams) and probably more comfortable, but their weight is also directly correlated to their cheaper cost. The Pumas are made with a single sole that have patches glued onto the sides, giving it the illusion of having multiple soles.

This leads us to a product design philosophy that is generally true across the luxury accessory industry: The weight of a product is rarely a priority, as long as the materials and manufacturing process are difficult or expensive.

There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. Some luxury products are considered premium based solely on the premise of being light. Richard Mille’s exorbitantly priced watches, for instance, are made from experimental lightweight materials.

There are also luxury sports cars, such as the Lotus, that are designed to be lightweight. But these products are all extreme demonstrations of technical prowess, which in and of itself is inherently impractical. If you really wanted a lightweight watch, you could buy a $10 kid’s quartz watch that will be lighter and more accurate than Richard Mille’s mechanical watch that costs $720,000. You could also drive around in an ultralightweight Porsche GT3 RS, but you’ll be driving a car with rock-hard seats, no stereo, and no air conditioning.

Luxury has never been about being practical. It’s more often about using expensive materials or excessively difficult manufacturing techniques, and more often than not, heavier products have been a more common indicator of luxury than lightweight ones, especially when it comes to luxury accessories.

The iPhone’s heavy, expensive to shape, and expensive to polish stainless-steel construction fits the bill of superfluous luxury.

In fact, being heavy and impractical can actually add to the aura of luxury. After all, how practical is it to travel with solid-wood Louis Vuitton trunks? It’s not, but you probably won’t be the one carrying them around anyway — that’s for the concierge to deal with. And how practical is it to drive a gas-guzzling Bentley V12? It’s not, but the price of gas isn’t an issue if you can afford a Bentley.

And how practical is wearing a heavy $50,000 gold watch that’s less accurate than a $10 quartz watch? It’s not, but you aren’t spending thousands of dollars to have an accurate timepiece on your wrist. You get the point.

The iPhone’s heavy, expensive to shape and expensive to polish stainless-steel construction fits the bill of superfluous luxury. And while steel is heavier, it doesn’t mean the iPhone is necessarily sturdier or more durable. If anything, its polished mirror finish is more prone to unsightly scratches than its matte or brushed-aluminum counterparts.

There’s no shortcut to fine metal polishing

Despite continuous developments in technology, there’s still no shortcut to getting a fine metal polish. This is a simple reason why polished-metal surfaces have been both desirable and luxurious throughout most of human history. Achieving a mirror finish on complex surfaces requires more skill, time, and energy.

The luxury watch industry is a great example of this. There are technologies that can create a more accurate, more complicated, or more durable watch, but there’s no easy way to get a fine finish around complex and small metal surfaces. In the end, the best watches are always finished by hand.

That’s why the fit and finish of a watch is the only foolproof way to discern a high-quality fake from the real deal. While a watch’s dimensions and shape can be replicated to a high degree of accuracy, the costs required to match the fit and finish of a fine watch — in particular, the finish of its movement — is simply not sustainable.

That being said, the iPhone is still the only flagship smartphone with a polished-steel case. Alternative metals such as aluminum and titanium are too soft to be polished to a mirror finish.

In this way, Apple is the only smartphone manufacturer betting on the design philosophy that heavier and polished metals will feel more premium.

This philosophy doesn’t apply to Apple’s laptops or tablets because they’re not meant to be carried around like a small accessory. Just imagine carrying around a shiny stainless-steel laptop. That would just be over the top, tacky, and impractically heavy. The premium iPhone and Apple Watch, on the other hand, both of which are manufactured with stainless steel, adhere to a different set of design rules because they are meant to be held and worn on the wrist as an accessory.

Based solely on Apple’s choice of metal and finish, the iPhone’s design language is closer to that of a luxury watch than a smartphone.

If competitors really want to edge into the iPhone’s premium design territory in a significant way, they need to take more design cues from luxury accessories rather than other tech devices.

Following Apple’s lead by incorporating heavier metals and mirror finishes would be a good start, but this is far easier said than done. Entire assembly lines would have to be replaced with new machines that require tighter manufacturing tolerances.

And just as luxury counterfeits and copycats can’t skirt around the issue of expensive manufacturing processes, copying the iPhone won’t be as simple as just deciding to switch to steel. It will require heavy reinvestments in infrastructure, starting from design conception all the way to final assembly.

That’s why apart from the aesthetic advantages of polished stainless steel, the sheer difficulty and costs of manufacturing the iPhone’s case is what makes it inherently more premium than its competitors.

Apple made a bold bet that using stainless steel would feel more premium in the hands of consumers, even if they weren’t consciously aware of the connection between polished surfaces, weight, and perceived luxury.

The power of Apple’s dominant brand appeal, however, doesn’t rely on the tastes of mass consumers. It relies on the trendsetters and influencers of pop culture who are, more often than not, intimately familiar with handling luxury and haute couture accessories. And sure enough, when they’re gearing up to head out in the morning, strapping on their expensive watches and donning luxury accessories, picking up the iPhone will just feel right.

 repost permission/written by: Shin Hyung Choi

Image: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

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