"I have to eat my words" Tech Advisor wrote after its Arc Pulse survived months of drops with a Pixel 10 inside. For the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, Arc rates the aluminum version for 3 m drops and the titanium for 7 m, with the back glass bare either way.
Arc Pulse is a two-piece metal bumper case held on by pressure fit. The top cap wraps the camera and a smaller one cups the bottom edge. Both slide on over a shock-absorbing inlay, with no glue.
Titanium buys a rating, not coverage
The metal is the one real choice, and on paper titanium looks like the easy upgrade.
| Build | Aluminum | Titanium |
|---|---|---|
| Alloy | 7075-T6 and 6013-T6 | Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V) |
| Weight | 18 g | 23 g |
| Coating | Anti-scratch | Onyx Black tungsten carbide |
I'm less sold. The extra 4 m of rating goes into the same two caps, and neither metal does anything for the glass between them. AppleInsider's iPhone 13 Pro review put the risk in terms of the fall itself: "If you drop your phone on a gravel driveway or it hits multiple surfaces on the way down, the Arc Pulse on its own may not be enough." By my read, the aluminum's 5 g saving is the more useful half of that trade.
Finishes and fit
Aluminum comes in six finishes, and two of them, Matte Light Blue and Matte Dark Red, were made to match the iPhone 18 Pro's colors, per 9to5Toys. Matte Black, Silver, Graphite, and Gold round out the set. Titanium comes in Onyx Black only.
Installation got fussier as the camera hardware grew. Seating the iPhone 17 Pro version took more effort than earlier models because of its plateau, 9to5Toys found, though the review still called it "the best I have used." The 18 Pro cap wraps a plateau too, so I'd expect the same wrestling.
MagSafe is the open question. On the 13 Pro, the metal ring around the camera blocked some MagSafe accessories in AppleInsider's testing, and Arc's listing is silent on accessory clearance, so iPhoners who hang a wallet or battery pack off the back should check that gap first.
Arc sells the Pulse for Pro models back to the iPhone 14 Pro, plus a run of Pixel phones.
