Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

'Ion-X' Strengthened Glass? Where's the improvement?

vertsix

vertsix

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 12, 2015
1,884
6,269
Texas
A little frustrated here because I only have had 3 days with my new iPhone 6s and I've already noticed a lovely 1-inch scratch on the "Ion-X strengthened glass" that the iPhone 6s has. It can only be noticed if you shine bright light.

I obsessively clean the screen on my phone, so I am truly disappointed that the screen can still be scratched as easily. I come from an iPhone 5s, and for two years I was only able to get one noticeable scratch on it, quite ironically.

Not a tragic thing to have a scratch on your screen but I honestly expected better with this improved glass. Sure, the solution is to get a screen protector, but most degrade the touch screen experience.

My question is, do you have scratches on your new iPhone 6s'? And, if you do have one, what screen protectors do you reccommend that don't necessarily diminish the touch screen experience?

Thanks for your feedback!
 
  • Like
Reactions: AleXXXa
vertsix said:
A little frustrated here because I only have had 3 days with my new iPhone 6s and I've already noticed a lovely 1-inch scratch on the "Ion-X strengthened glass" that the iPhone 6s has. It can only be noticed if you shine bright light.

I obsessively clean the screen on my phone, so I am truly disappointed that the screen can still be scratched as easily. I come from an iPhone 5s, and for two years I was only able to get one noticeable scratch on it, quite ironically.

Not a tragic thing to have a scratch on your screen but I honestly expected better with this improved glass. Sure, the solution is to get a screen protector, but most degrade the touch screen experience.

My question is, do you have scratches on your new iPhone 6s'? And, if you do have one, what screen protectors do you reccommend that don't necessarily diminish the touch screen experience?

Thanks for your feedback!
Click to expand...
Far and away, manufacturers are concerned about cracks, not scratches.
 
  • Like
Reactions: arn
vertsix said:
I hate them too but I am considering getting one after this.
[doublepost=1455553903][/doublepost]

That's probably true. Good point.
Click to expand...

I guess I have been lucky and not used a protector on my last 4-5 new iPhones and not a single scratch. I do know I would be very upset if it happened if I only owned a few days. Sorry
 
Newtons Apple said:
I guess I have been lucky and not used a protector on my last 4-5 new iPhones and not a single scratch. I do know I would be very upset if it happened if I only owned a few days. Sorry
Click to expand...
It's a very minimal scratch that can only be noticed if you shine really bright light at a certain angle, but it is permanent.

And it is large, but not necessarily noticeable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Newtons Apple
vertsix said:
A little frustrated here because I only have had 3 days with my new iPhone 6s and I've already noticed a lovely 1-inch scratch on the "Ion-X strengthened glass" that the iPhone 6s has. It can only be noticed if you shine bright light.
Click to expand...

It's probably the oleophobic coating that has the scratch, not the glass.

It'll fade as the coating wears off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: goobot and Skika
Harmonious Zen said:
Gotta remember that lots of times scratches aren't on the glass itself but on the costing on top of the glass.
Click to expand...

So is there a way to remove it?

I know there are some sprays and wipes and stuff but I've always thought that they were just shenanigans so I've never gone and bought any of them.
 
I always use a screen protector and have never regretted it, although I do understand people who don't want to use them.

Scratches don't just appear, something caused it. You may not have noticed it, but it happened.
 
Last edited:
Maybe I'm in the miniroty but I'd much rather have a quality screen protector than have to look at a screen with visible scratches.

I find the oleophobic coating too easily scratched and the scratches can be quite visible under certain lighting. And, at least in my experience, they never go away.
 
vertsix said:
A little frustrated here because I only have had 3 days with my new iPhone 6s and I've already noticed a lovely 1-inch scratch on the "Ion-X strengthened glass" that the iPhone 6s has. It can only be noticed if you shine bright light.

I obsessively clean the screen on my phone, so I am truly disappointed that the screen can still be scratched as easily. I come from an iPhone 5s, and for two years I was only able to get one noticeable scratch on it, quite ironically.

Not a tragic thing to have a scratch on your screen but I honestly expected better with this improved glass. Sure, the solution is to get a screen protector, but most degrade the touch screen experience.

My question is, do you have scratches on your new iPhone 6s'? And, if you do have one, what screen protectors do you reccommend that don't necessarily diminish the touch screen experience?

Thanks for your feedback!
Click to expand...


The weakest link of these phones seemed to be the "curved edges" hit that too hard against your thigh on the 6+\6 and the entire phone is shattered. Weakest phone I've had in awhile, the 5 was a tank. But yeah I always figured it was to help against how easily this generation cracks.

And I recommend a good glass screen protector, as somebody with bad OCD I've found a couple that work perfectly and seem to be the phone itself while offering great protection. I used to avoid them like the plague, but some of the newer glass ones really do just disappear, the plastic ones are still all just plain awful.
 
acorntoy said:
The weakest link of these phones seemed to be the "curved edges" hit that too hard against your thigh on the 6+\6 and the entire phone is shattered. Weakest phone I've had in awhile, the 5 was a tank. But yeah I always figured it was to help against how easily this generation cracks.

And I recommend a good glass screen protector, as somebody with bad OCD I've found a couple that work perfectly and seem to be the phone itself while offering great protection. I used to avoid them like the plague, but some of the newer glass ones really do just disappear, the plastic ones are still all just plain awful.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but to be fair it's so nice to swipe back on the curved glass. It felt awful when I did it on my 5s. That thing was a brick.
 
acorntoy said:
The weakest link of these phones seemed to be the "curved edges" hit that too hard against your thigh on the 6+\6 and the entire phone is shattered. Weakest phone I've had in awhile, the 5 was a tank. But yeah I always figured it was to help against how easily this generation cracks.

And I recommend a good glass screen protector, as somebody with bad OCD I've found a couple that work perfectly and seem to be the phone itself while offering great protection.
Click to expand...
vertsix said:
Yeah, but to be fair it's so nice to swipe back on the curved glass. It felt awful when I did it on my 5s. That thing was a brick.
Click to expand...

Win some lose some I guess? I have two small cracks because of it now, although I will admit they seem to stick to the side and away from the screen. Hopefully the 7 will feature "Ion-XX" and we can all just sleep easily :p
 
vertsix said:
A little frustrated here because I only have had 3 days with my new iPhone 6s and I've already noticed a lovely 1-inch scratch on the "Ion-X strengthened glass" that the iPhone 6s has. It can only be noticed if you shine bright light.

I obsessively clean the screen on my phone, so I am truly disappointed that the screen can still be scratched as easily. I come from an iPhone 5s, and for two years I was only able to get one noticeable scratch on it, quite ironically.

Not a tragic thing to have a scratch on your screen but I honestly expected better with this improved glass. Sure, the solution is to get a screen protector, but most degrade the touch screen experience.

My question is, do you have scratches on your new iPhone 6s'? And, if you do have one, what screen protectors do you reccommend that don't necessarily diminish the touch screen experience?

Thanks for your feedback!
Click to expand...

Ion exchange is for surface tension, which is for impact. It doesn't relate to the "scratch-ability" of the glass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Skika and nordique
I do believe the Ion-X glass is more scratch-resistant than the prior generations of glass. But it's all relative. Dig around on YouTube and you'll find a Consumer Reports lab test of the Ion-X vs. sapphire displays on the Apple Watch. They test the scratch resistance of each using increasingly harder metal bits. Their findings are that the Ion-X is quite scratch resistant, but shows a scratch sooner than the sapphire as they move higher and higher in bit hardness. I recall the glass display scratched a couple of steps down in bit hardness vs the sapphire, but it was still way up the hardness scale by the time that happened.

The practical implication of this is this: whether or not your display scratches all depends on what you hit it against. If I whack my stainless steel Apple Watch against a brick, it will probably not scratch at all. If my wife hits her Sport model against the same brick, it probably will. If I run a diamond across my sapphire screen, it will certainly scratch.

As Apple improves the formulation each year or two, it reduces the list of materials that can scratch it, and how deeply it can be scratched. I think we are just a few years from scratching becoming extremely rare, but not quite yet. Also others are correct that the oleophobic coating can show micro-scratches. I would try not to worry about those.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nordique
willmtaylor said:
The only improvement that I've seen is in regards to marketing propaganda. I've seen more cracked/busted/broken iPhone 6 and 6(S) screens than any other iPhone iteration.
Click to expand...

That's probably because the iPhone 6 is so slippery and big.

I get the feeling that I'm going to drop mine every time that I get it out of my pocket because I'm used to firmly and securely grasping my old iPhone 5s.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Goatllama and willmtaylor
willmtaylor said:
The only improvement that I've seen is in regards to marketing propaganda. I've seen more cracked/busted/broken iPhone 6 and 6(S) screens than any other iPhone iteration.
Click to expand...
Do you work at a service center?

I worked for the GeekSquad, the 4/4s were CONSTANTLY being broken.

Is there something you know that physics doesn't understand?
 
NT1440 said:
Do you work at a service center?

I worked for the GeekSquad, the 4/4s were CONSTANTLY being broken.

Is there something you know that physics doesn't understand?
Click to expand...

Snide and presumptuous. Nice combo out of the gate.

Worked for GeekSquad? Nice. You really seem to have the personality for it--I can see that already.

Physics isn't an entity with a consciousness. Aside from that, I never claimed to know anything regarding physics. I provided anecdotal support for my off the cuff hypothesis.

Thanks for stopping by though; you've been great. Really. :rolleyes: (Perhaps you ought to venture out of PRSI a bit more often for a dose of fresh air.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: bernuli
i don't have a SP on my iphone 6s and there are small micro scratches on the screen if i look at it in the sun.
life goes on.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
willmtaylor said:
Snide and presumptuous. Nice combo out of the gate.

Worked for GeekSquad? Nice. You really seem to have the personality for it--I can see that already.

Physics isn't an entity with a consciousness. Aside from that, I never claimed to know anything regarding physics. I provided anecdotal support for my off the cuff hypothesis.

Thanks for stopping by though; you've been great. Really. :rolleyes: (Perhaps you ought to venture out of PRSI a bit more often for a dose of fresh air.)
Click to expand...
You stated that Ion-X (brand name for ion exchange hardening) is pure PR fluff. Physics says otherwise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back