Can you protect the camera lens on the Iphone 11 pro max?

The camera lens cover has been synthetic sapphire for a while. This is similar to sapphire watch crystals. It simply won't scratch unless something at least as hard (like aluminum oxide sandpaper which is really just sapphire) comes in contact.

That doesn't mean it can't crack or shatter, but it would take something really, really hard to scratch it.

Sena cases and others at least have reasonable deep cutouts around the lenses so when sitting flat the lens is not in contact with any surfaces.

I’ve used Sena cases with my iPhones for years and never had a camera lens cracked or scratched. They are pricey cases and they do add some bulk (as any protective case will), but excellent quality and great drop protection. I like folio cases so the screen and front camera is also covered when not in use and carried in a pocket or bag.

THE_DUDE_HAS_SPOKEN wrote:

Interesting, good to know. I honestly can say that the camera on my 6s never scratched and it’s been through some abuse. But it did have a deeper cutout in the case. But just paranoid due to the larger size of the cameras. Thanks for the info!

I've got an iPhone 7, where the camera lens cover kind of has a lip and isn't flush with the surface of the case. That little lip has some scratches, but the crystal itself is pristine. The only issue is that it might not be a whole lot of sapphire, and the thinner that a sapphire crystal is, the more likely that it could shatter.

You can see that in watches. A lot of less expensive watches use $10 sapphire crystals that are pretty thin, and some have shattered in rather dramatic fashion. But an expensive divers watch might have a considerably thicker (and heavier) sapphire crystal that is less likely to crack.

THE_DUDE_HAS_SPOKEN wrote:

Yeah I’m sure the lip makes a difference. Hopefully the new iPhone has a decent sapphire crystal! Thanks for being so helpful!

Actually the lip doesn't protect the sapphire. It actually sticks out a little bit. I was just trying to get across that the lip scratched rather easily, but the sapphire next to it didn't.

I was thinking of it compared to an iPad camera where the lens cover (which is supposedly just glass) is actually slightly recessed and not protruding like with iPhones.