iPhone 11 Owners Angry Over Easily Scratched Screens

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A wave of users that is quickly turning into a tsunami is claiming that their iPhone 11 displays scratch way too easily. The photos and testimonies they are posting in this Apple support thread are pretty damning, but the company hasn’t replied to any of this yet.

These users are claiming that their phones are getting scratched no matter how much care they put into making sure that nothing can damage them. They say that they only put their phones in their pockets — free of coins, keys or any other objects — and the phones will get microscratches apparently out of nowhere. Sometimes the scratches even look like permanent smears, as you can see in the photo above.

All of the reports come from users who claim to have had other iPhones in the past and have never experienced these problems:

I'm also having this problem on my new iPhone 11 Pro. I've had it for roughly 2 weeks. It only ever goes in my pocket or on a wireless charger. I already have scratches on the display that didn't show up on my last iPhone X until after 2 years of use. thelaststep1989 - Apple Support Forums

Another user added that “the screen feels like it can get scratches or smears when not even in contact with sharp or rough surfaces. Never had this issue with previous generation iPhones. Not impressed.”

Most of the reports are like that, often containing detailed circumstances about how the scratches happened: “My wife and me have put our brand new iPhones 11 inside our pocket pants and both screens get scratched the second day of use (mines right in the selfie camera, apple says ‘without mal function’).” In other words, people are not subjecting their iPhones to torture tests.

Many users are claiming they are long time iPhone users and they have never experienced anything similar, like this one: “I have used the iPhone since the first generation. I never install any screen protector, and I never had any serious scratch whatsoever. This is the first time I experience something like this.”

The people affected are claiming that Apple Store technicians are telling them the damage is their fault, even while they say that they have never exposed their phone to any objects that may have scratched them.

Here are some of the images we collected in the thread, which is at 17 pages at the time of writing:

Image 1 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 2 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 3 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 4 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 5 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 6 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 7 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 8 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 9 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 10 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 11 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 12 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 13 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 14 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 15 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 16 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 17 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 18 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 19 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 20 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 21 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 22 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 23 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 24 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 25 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums) Image 26 of 26 (Image credit: Apple Support Forums)

It’s not the first time that Apple phones have experienced this kind of trouble. While it is too early to tell, it’s worrying to see that a lot of people who have paid a thousand dollars or more for their iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max are seeing how easily their displays are scratching.

After all, when it launched back in September, Apple claimed that this was the toughest glass in a phone ever. By these accounts, this does not appear to be the case.

Are you experiencing this problem? Make sure to comment on the Apple support thread and add photos.

CryptoFox402 on October 9th, 2019 at 18:19 UTC »

I haven’t seen this mentioned yet but for Apple to make the “strongest” glass on a smartphone, they had to make a choice. Shatter resistance vs. scratch resistance. You can’t have both. It’s pretty apparent that Apple (as well as Gorlilla Glass, as these same reports have been said about the Note 10 (I had one and it did get micro scratches rather easily)) have gone with shatter resistance. I know it’s not perfect, but I would much rather have a more shatter resistant screen that scratches, than one that shatters easily.

aristeomersi on October 9th, 2019 at 17:43 UTC »

Its scratches on a level 6, with deeper grooves on a level 7

Nickyweg on October 9th, 2019 at 17:21 UTC »

I got some of the Spiegen easy apply screen protectors and I’m actually so impressed. I can’t really tell it’s there and the application tray made it dustless and perfectly aligned.