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iPhone 11 Micro scratches on all iPhones in apple store

eustachio

eustachio

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 27, 2019
38
24
Newbie here, be gentle!

I am planning to switch to iPhone from a pixel 3. We have 2 MacBooks at home and I'm impressed by the build quality and OS. My friend recently switched to iPhone and I played with his and really liked it.

So I went to my local Apple store today to check out the 11 and others. An aside, the whole apple store experience is pretty amazing... probably only my 3rd time in one, I felt like I was at a party!

Anyway, all the phones on display had a lot of micro scratches, easily visible. My pixel has no screen protector and has lived in my jeans pocket for the past year, and has no scratches.

They both seem to use gorilla glass, so what do you think is the difference?

Thanks
 
iPhone 11, 11Pro and 11Pro Max all have the latest gorilla glass just like all the latest flagship phones offered by every manufacturer. They all have oleophobic coatings that can be scratched. Some may have a coating that shows micro scratches more easily than others so if it bothers you, install a screen protector and enjoy whatever phone you decide to buy
 
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Thanks all, and makes sense. I guess because mine had been in my pocket for a year it seemed equivalent. I really dislike screen protectors so was a little concerned.

It would not stop me at all from buying one, just was curious about it.
 
eustachio said:
Newbie here, be gentle!

I am planning to switch to iPhone from a pixel 3. We have 2 MacBooks at home and I'm impressed by the build quality and OS. My friend recently switched to iPhone and I played with his and really liked it.

So I went to my local Apple store today to check out the 11 and others. An aside, the whole apple store experience is pretty amazing... probably only my 3rd time in one, I felt like I was at a party!

Anyway, all the phones on display had a lot of micro scratches, easily visible. My pixel has no screen protector and has lived in my jeans pocket for the past year, and has no scratches.

They both seem to use gorilla glass, so what do you think is the difference?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Each year they claim glass is harder and stronger when it comes to breaking and shattering. But I guess the harder the glass the higher likelihood of scratches. I have scratches on my xs max like no other iPhone I’ve had and I’ve never used screen protectors. It’s weird.
 
The glass is strong. In durability (drop) tests I’ve seen it has survived some crazy abuse. It does however appear to be less resilient to surface scratching, a decent trade off imo given it costs so little to protect from scratches. I’d much rather a strong durable display over a scratch resistant display BUT for best of both worlds, slap a screen protector on there if you wish to preserve that strong glass
 
The glass is storng, but there's an oleophobic coating that wears with time and it shows scracthes quite easily.

I don't think being handled by dozens of careless selfie-taking tourists every day is doing these iPhones any favors. Plus they are cleaned multiple times a day.
 
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AppleHaterLover said:
The glass is storng, but there's an oleophobic coating that wears with time and it shows scracthes quite easily.

I don't think being handled by dozens of careless selfie-taking tourists every day is doing these iPhones any favors. Plus they are cleaned multiple times a day.
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I’ve heard this all over but I’ve yet to hear of anyone reporting if the micro scratches disappear when/if the oleophobic coating wears away. I assume if the oleo coating is what is scratching then theoretically it should be possible to remove the scratches by removing, either naturally or DIY the oleophobic coating? Not saying your wrong though. I just have doubts as to the validity of the whole oleophobic scratching in general
 
DevinNj said:
Demo units are handled and even abused by hundreds of people. I've even seen people in stores deliberately trying to scratch the phones to "test" their durability.
Click to expand...
“Hundreds of people”??? Try hundreds of per ‘daily’ and tens of thousands monthly. The phones are picked up and dropped on the display holder thousands of times. Can’t begin to tell you how nasty and abused demo phones are in pretty much any retail store!!!
 
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With some of these demo phones, some customers even intentionally tried damage them on purpose, just to to be A). Rude and B.) They’re probably wearing jewelry when handling the phone, which also rules results in scratches.
 
If a couple micro scratches will drive you nuts, throw a cheap amazon glass screen protector on it. Pretty much disappears after install and no worries about scratches anymore.

I’m convinced the latest phone screens are all but impossible to break, but scratch much easier now because of it.
 
farfromovin said:
If a couple micro scratches will drive you nuts, throw a cheap amazon glass screen protector on it. Pretty much disappears after install and no worries about scratches anymore.

I’m convinced the latest phone screens are all but impossible to break, but scratch much easier now because of it.
Click to expand...

The iPhone displays are made of glass, they are far from being ‘impossible’ to break, it’s only based on three things for breakage to occur, 1.]Surface type the phone lands on 2.] Angle which the phone hits to cause a break and 3.]Height of which the phone was dropped from. For the most part, It doesn’t even matter if you use a case or not, all these phones are susceptible to breaking.
 
chabig said:
You can't compare the display phones to yours because they have not been handled the same. If you are afraid to buy an iPhone because of small scratches, plan to put a screen protector on it.
Click to expand...

Exactly. People aren’t respectful when handling display models. My Pro Max is pristine (after a couple drops) and no screen protector.
 
PanAm-L1011 said:
Exactly. People aren’t respectful when handling display models
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Tbf, I’ve heard that sentiment a lot around here but I have never, ever seen anyone in an Apple store be intentionally Disrespectful.
 
My 11 Pro Max already has a few very fine scratches on the screen.

You can only see them if you look at the screen askew under a very bright light, though, and they are completely invisible when using the phone.

It's not worth dealing with a screen protector to prevent scratches that you can't even see unless you're looking for them.
 
Aydy said:
I’ve heard this all over but I’ve yet to hear of anyone reporting if the micro scratches disappear when/if the oleophobic coating wears away. I assume if the oleo coating is what is scratching then theoretically it should be possible to remove the scratches by removing, either naturally or DIY the oleophobic coating? Not saying your wrong though. I just have doubts as to the validity of the whole oleophobic scratching in general
Click to expand...

This sorta happened on my Apple Watch. Now that it's 4 years old, the only visible scratches are the deep ones.
 
The amount of abuse that an iPhone takes in one day in an Applev store is 20 times more than what you would do to your iPhone. So if the iPhone is out there a month and you see micro scratches it’s to be expected
 
While your concern is valid, I think that any Apple product has always been about the sum of its parts, never the parts.
 
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The phones on display in an Apple store get handled by all sorts of people. Some mess around and drop them, others are careful.

Display phones will end up with loads.

Life as a phone...
 
Heres what Ive noticed. Since the X, Ive used the screen protector that cover everything but the notch.

My X, XS never had scratches on the notch. My 2 month old 11 Pro has TONS of those scratches you can see under the light.

Same usage, same jeans etc. Screen is def more fragile than the X or Xs, but Idc. I trade the phone in every year so its fine
 
AndrewR23 said:
Same usage, same jeans etc. Screen is def more fragile than the X or Xs, but Idc. I trade the phone in every year so its fine
Click to expand...

That doesn’t make the screen more ‘fragile’, what you’re trying to say is, the Oleophobic coating could be applied differently from the factory or it’s a different solution Apple is using, causing the scratches be more susceptible to every day environments. Let’s say you received your iPhone 11 Pro a week after it launched, I highly doubt the Oleophobic coating would even be worn off yet.
 
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