The best case you can get for the iPhone 17 Pro is not buying it at all

Have you seen Apple’s new iPhone 17 Pro design? Don’t you love it? After all, it’s the first thing you see when you open the phone’s product page to learn more about its latest flagship. There it is, in all its heat-forged aluminum glory — sorry, titanium, but your time has passed. Apple touts this new design as being its most powerful yet, so there must be some magic to this aluminum shell.

And honestly, I think it looks pretty good. I like the bold colors, the seamlessness of the unibody shell, and I’ll admit the camera plateau is growing on me. There’s just one problem: Scratchgate. The new iPhone 17 series is picking up scratches like no other, forcing me to consider a break from my no-case lifestyle to keep my phone presentable.

Then again, there’s another solution — to buy a different phone.

We, of course, could have this debate about any phone — and I kind of do. I’m both dedicated to my no-case lifestyle and review dozens of phones every year, so buying a case each time is not practical. After all, some of the cheaper phones in my collection will only get a week or two of use before they head off into a drawer, and then I don’t mind that I’m not seeing them.

However, I’ve never had to consider so seriously whether my day-to-day lifestyle would damage the back of my phone. Usually, I’ll pick up a phone, admire its frosted glass back and glossy frame, and slip it right into my pocket without a second thought — and yes, that’s the Pixel 10 Pro XL I’m talking about. So far, I’ve never had an issue with that approach, having only ever broken two phones, and neither was in my pocket at the time.

The problem is that the iPhone 17 Pro doesn’t have a largely glass design — this beast is almost entirely aluminum. Normally, you might think this is good news, as aluminum doesn’t shatter like glass does. In reality, you have to remember that this is a swap away from titanium to a slightly softer metal with much sharper edges around its camera plateau — and there’s much more of it.

So, you have two choices: Buy a case to cover up your sleek new phone, hide its unibody aluminum design and the panel of ceramic shield glass set in the middle, or risk the scratches. Either accept that you won’t see Apple’s beautiful craftsmanship, or come to terms with the fact that you’ll actively make your phone look worse over time.

If you take the high road — the, er, case road — congratulations. You’ve made life easy on yourself. It may be less aesthetically pleasing, but there are many iPhone 17 Pro cases you could pick up that will do the job without turning your sleek new phone into a total brick. Then again, where’s the fun on the high road?

If you take the low road, which means the scratch-filled, chaotic road, congratulations, too, I guess. I applaud your bravery and willingness to risk fine lines on the back of your expensive new phone. I’d imagine you’re not an everyday sunscreen wearer, either. You probably feel pretty good right now, jumping into adventures without extra protection or a care in the world — and yes, we’re still talking about phones.

There will, however, come a day when your choice catches up with you. You’ll find so many little scratches on the back of your iPhone 17 Pro that you’ll start kicking yourself, or you’ll start to notice wrinkles due to not protecting yourself from the big, bright ball of gas that none of us can live without. And, when that day comes, I’ll happily ask if it was worth it. Because it probably wasn’t.

What I think would be worth it, though, is to get a different phone. Skip Apple’s triumphant return to aluminum because it has skipped some of the finer details, like a too-sharp camera bump. If you have a recent iPhone, treat yourself to a new case and hang on for another year — Apple will probably figure things out for the iPhone 18 series, and you might be able to get a foldable iPhone by then.