Customers are huddling around counters with a mission this Diwali — to feast on glitz of a metal of a different kind. It is the year of the titanium.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and his team have created an unprecedented demand for the metal by giving the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max titanium bands to encase the substructure.

“Titanium makes the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max lighter and tougher,” said Ankit Chordia, business development head of Imagine, Systematix Media, one of the largest Apple partners in Bengal.

Here’s the googly: Such is the demand that “15 Pro Max has two-three weeks of supply backlog and Pro is also in high demand”. Chordia said the demand for the phone has been steady since its launch towards September end.

Nowhere does the magic of Apple come alive more than it does at the company’s stores, the first two of which have opened in India — Apple BKC in Mumbai and Apple Saket in Delhi. That Calcutta does not have a direct Apple outlet is just a small detail because salespersons are running off their feet at Imagine stores in the city.

A current iPhone 14 Pro Max user said he was “eagerly” looking forward to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. “For a feel of the aerospace-grade titanium body,” said Shiladitya Chaudhury, a businessman whose passion is wildlife photography.

Tejas Doshi, the person behind Light & Beyond, the lighting consulting firm, too, wants the 15 for the titanium. “The metal makes the phone lighter. That means long calls would be easier on the hand,” he said.

Doshi’s eye is on the iPhone 15 Pro. “I’m the type of person who keeps a phone for at least five years, so I only upgrade when there are significant differences between iPhones. Some may think that an 8-9 per cent reduction in weight is minor, but trust me, if you hold your phone for more than 30 minutes, you’ll truly appreciate the impact of physics on comfort,” he said.

Strong and lightweight are two words that are not often used in the same breath but the new iPhone does just that.

Titanium has one of the highest strength-to-weight ratios of any metal, making this Apple’s lightest Pro lineup ever.

For comparison: the iPhone 15 Pro weighs 187g compared to last year’s 206g on the iPhone 14 Pro.

Titanium is not a rare metal. Coming with atomic number 22, when titanium is turned into a metal, it becomes resistant to corrosion. No wonder, soon after titanium was discovered by William Gregor in 1791, Martin Heinrich Klaproth named it after the Titans of Greek mythology.

This is not Apple’s first play with the tough metal. When the first Apple Watch Ultra launched last year, it came with a titanium frame.