Titanium shell on my iPhone 15 Pro Max shattered like glass

Make an appointment at the Genius Bar to have it repaired.

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a "Titanium design" with a "Ceramic Shield front" and a "Textured matte glass back."

TechRadar - What is Apple's Ceramic Shield? The iPhone protection tech explained says that Ceramic Shield is a special kind of tough glass "made by embedding ceramic nanocrystals into the glass through a high-temperature crystallization process."

So a lot of the shell is glass of some sort – either the "textured matte glass" on the back, or the special, toughened Ceramic Shield glass on the front.

A little bit of searching led to this Apple press release:

Apple – Press Release (September 12, 2023) – Apple unveils iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

"Apple today debuted iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, designed with aerospace-grade titanium that’s strong yet lightweight to deliver Apple’s lightest Pro models ever."

"Available in 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch display sizes,2 iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max feature a strong and lightweight titanium design — a first for iPhone. This premium alloy — the same used in spacecraft — has one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any metal, making this Apple’s lightest Pro lineup ever. Both models feature a new refined brush texture, contoured edges, and the thinnest borders on iPhone. The Pro lineup is built to last, combining the strength of titanium with the toughest back glass in a smartphone and the industry-leading Ceramic Shield on the front. Using an industry-first thermo-mechanical process, the titanium bands encase a new substructure made from 100 percent recycled aluminum, bonding these two metals with incredible strength through solid-state diffusion. The aluminum frame helps with thermal dissipation and allows the back glass to be easily replaced."

ChrisJ4203 wrote:

I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I would really like to see a photo of that.

I would guess that what shattered was the glass part of the shell – and that the OP may have been under the mistaken impression that "titanium design" meant that the whole surface of the outer shell was made out of titanium metal.

Yes, they did. It is contained below the photos. However, don't expect it to remain there long. Many of the backs of iPhones have been glass in the past as well. As KiltedTim stated earlier, the frame is what is Titanium, not the entire phone.

KiltedTim wrote:

Hate to break it to you, but that’s glass, not titanium.

The metal around the edge of the phone… that’s titanium. The back is glass.

Technically, the metal around the edge of the phone might contain both titanium and aluminum. But you're right with regards to the key point.

What shattered was the glass back – not the metal chassis / frame!

I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I would really like to see a photo of that.

If you are asking about estimated cost of repair, that would be in the $700 range.

I figured they could have been referring to the back of the device, but I was just curious to see.

Hate to break it to you, but that’s glass, not titanium.

The metal around the edge of the phone… that’s titanium. The back is glass.

That doesn’t change anything.

Just a point of reference, you can’t have wireless charging and a metal back. So, if a device can charge wirelessly, it’s almost certainly glass.