Having read through all posts, I don't understand the purpose of this thread. You're fabricating a "-gate" (the most irritatingly uninformed nuisance around here) and then arguing with people who are trying to educate you on why it's happening and the fact that it's not just iPhones but all glass that scratches.
Apple advertises the strongest glass in a smartphone ever because they're increasing the shatter resistance from one generation to the next. As I'm sure you've heard/read, the more shatter resistant glass becomes the lower it's rating on scratch resistance.
Would you rather have a shattered screen or some micro-scratches that can only be seen in certain lighting? If it's such a big deal move along and get something else.
This is a very good post that explains precisely what is going on, but it appears some people have skimmed past your point.
A hard gemstone like a diamond or quarts resists scratching, as does very hardened glass. But the harder these substances are, the easier they are to shatter. They’re essentially brittle. The hardness makes them vulnerable to other kinds of forces.
Yes you could carry the older phones with harder glass without a screen protector and not get much in the way of scratching. But if you were to drop one, your phone was at a much increased risk of chipping or shattering than it is now.
So over the years the industry worked on formulating glass with less brittleness. To do that, they had to incorporate polymers that introduced softness.
So, what we have now are phones that are more likely to survive impacts from dropping, but they will be more likely to scratch. The glass is softer. Being softer imparts a degree of flexibility in the glass that is better for absorbing the forces of impact without shattering.
Putting a screen protector on one of the older phones really didn’t gain you that much. Impacts could still be devastating.
But now you’ve got a display that is more resistant to impacts. And when you put a screen protector on you also get protection from scratches. Win-win.
I happen to use a full screen protector (does not have a cut out for the notch) made by ESR. It is compatible with all of my cases so far and is smooth and a pleasure to type on. I can’t even tell it is on there.
Eventually it will accumulate some scratches itself and I will put a fresh one on.
No big deal.
I have noticed the oleophobic coatings on iPhones fresh out of the box since last year feel a bit more sticky. Maybe there is some sort of change made to that coating that is undesirable. That’s why I do prefer the feel of the screen protector.
But regarding the quality of the glass itself, it’s the highest it’s ever been for impact resistance.
There is no “gate”.
Some people just need to understand the compromise that’s been made to get a phone that can better withstand drops and hits.