iPhone 11 screen scratches

I have helped by providing the ACTUAL facts. Whether you can feel the scratches or not doesn't stop you from using your phone. But you can help yourself by installing a screen protector, which will eliminate any feeling of scratches. You can replace the screen, but if you do, you should put a screen protector on to avoid ever getting scratches. Or if you are within 14 days since you purchased your phone, you can return it for full refund.

What else can anyone offer you here? The answer is nothing. No one here works for Apple and Apple isn't going to comment on this in this forum. Ever.

Or you can keep posting about this, which will get absolutely nothing. You and everyone else should do something to make this situation better for yourselves.

That's how I've helped, whether you like the help or not.

karsa wrote:

If not, then why do you feel the need to come here and mock us without actually being either helpful, thoughtful or constructive?

What you call "mocking" is merely stating the factual details of the situation.

Is it really because increased shatter resistance resulted in easier/more visible scratches? Where's your source for stating this as a fact?

This article from The Verge states:

The reason why has to do with both market demand and glass’ natural qualities. Since glass can’t truly be both extremely drop resistant and scratch resistant, Corning and other glass makers are forced to choose which of those two qualities to prioritize. For Corning, drop resistance takes precedence.

Corning manufactures the glass used on the iPhone, regardless of whether it is technically "Gorilla Glass" or not.

A Caltech materials professor is quoted in the piece as saying:

The main way that glass makers strengthen glass is through tempering, which can either be an intense heating process or a chemical treatment, like the aforementioned salt bath. As Caltech professor of materials science William L. Johnson explains, the internal stress causes the glass to yield more easily to any introduced stress on its surface. In simple terms, that means when the glass is more tempered, it often scratches more easily. (Corning contends that tempering improves both drop and scratch resistance.)

Johnson says that, ultimately, it all comes down to how hard the surface of the glass is. Tempering gives up added hardness in favor of flexibility. More tempering “makes the whole screen more tolerant to overall bending, as in dropping the phone,” he says. “But it does not necessarily improve the hardness of the glass [and] might actually make it slightly worse. It’s the hardness that enables scratch resistance.”

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/10/19/17514174/gorilla-glass-scratch-resistance-google-pixel-3-samsung-galaxy-s9-note

Nope, but the dumb luck that you had a particle in just the wrong place at the wrong time did, coupled by the fact that the glass is less breakage-prone but may be slightly more scratch-prone.

Your best option may be to either return your phone for a refund if possible or sell your phone and buy something else, as you're obviously not happy with it.

What's apparent is you posted to the first post and didn't take any time to read this thread. Below are a couple really good articles. One about iPhone 11 specifically and why glass is glass and an article from The Verge on much the same topic. Yes, the new iPhone's are tougher. But that doesn't mean they can't be scratched as evidenced by this thread. Tougher does NOT mean it can't be scratched. Tougher means it's harder to break and there's a trade-off between tougher glass and scratchability of glass.

Read this article -- > https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/11/04/iphone-11-scratches/

Also read this article --> https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/10/19/17514174/gorilla-glass-scratch-resistance-google-pixel-3-samsung-galaxy-s9-note

Then take your gripe to Apple directly. This forum is not going to help you as has been said over and over and over and over.

Your options are simple:

1. Schedule an appointment at your Apple Store Genius Bar
2. If they can't help you, put a screen protector on your phone to stop new scratches from appearing
3. Or pay to have the screen replaced, then put a protector on the new screen
4. Or if you are within 14 days, return the phone for full refund
5. Or if you are not within 14 days, sell your phone as it's not making you happy

But continuing to argue your point here isn't going to get you any resolution at all.

Yes. We have iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Both have had screen protectors installed at the Apple Store the minute they came out of their boxes. That's not different for us though. I've always slapped one on every new phone from the beginning. I pay cash for our phones and just don't want to hazard a chance on getting scratches.

They don't cover my notch, but I have no scratches there. I also NEVER carry my phone in a pocket. There's too much chance that grit can scratch the phones screen in a pocket as you've come to learn from this experience. My phones are cased in cases, which clip into a polycarbonate clip case when not in use. So always protected during transport.

This is my phone:

You should check for whatever is sharp that could have done that coupled with whatever motion produced that curve.

My guess would be grit trapped in a pocket surround that caused the scratch as the phone was removed at an angle.

cha0z_ wrote:

This shows nothing, Jerry test the screen only with materials with hardness of 5 and 6, nothing in between. Glass is normally around 5.5, but can vary and in gorilla glass case - by a lot. The only information you have from that video is that the iphone pro max glass hardness is over 5 and below or equal to 6. It can be 5.2 or 5.9 - you don't know that from this fast simple test.

Also worth nothing that a material with hardness of 7 will scratch deeper and easier softer glass. This is critical when the pressure is not that strong (like in a normal jeans pocket) as if the glass is softer - it's more likely to scratch in the first place. Stronger glass can come out unscratched or if the pressure is strong enough - will be less scratched. Physics.

As has been pointed out several times, this is faulty reasoning. Feldspar and quartz are the two most abundant minerals on the planet, are ubiquitous in everyone's environment and will scratch essentially every smartphone screen on the market.

Positing that something which is by definition softer and less common is responsible for scratching everyone's iPhone 11s when they are constantly exposed to these harder and more common substances is statistically impossible.

Oh, by the way, JerryRigEverything also attempted to scratch an iPhone 11 with a razor blade, which is approximately Mohs 5.5, and couldn't. In contrast, a razor blade did scratch iPhone 6S and earlier models (despite all the claims on here that "my iPhone 11 scratches more easily than my iPhone 6/6S").

"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."

~Aldous Huxley

DavidNilsson wrote:

I was under the impression that I can’t even get this fixed under the apple care+ deal because it’s “cosmetic”?

It's discretionary and I have read where a couple people were able to exercise one of their replacements for this. Personally, it would simply make more sense to have Apple install the Belkin iON Infused Glass Screen Protector for $39 and be done with this.

Went to Apple Service centre and a few Apple Authorised resellers. Everyone is claiming that you should have gone with a screen protector from the very first day itself. Even on a call with Apple support the support person told me that I should have gone with a tempered glass. And each of these people is saying “Tough does not mean scratch-resistance”. They are even saying that Apple sells tempered glass on its official website for a reason.

It's about taking a gamble that without a screen protector, your screen won't get a scratch. Sand in a pocket has a very high hardness level on the mohs scale. And that's likely how your screen got scratched. You lost on this gamble.

This thread really has no valid purpose other than for people to commiserate with each other. I post that using a screen protector is smart. And I don't sell screen protectors, work for Apple or any electronic manufacturer.

There is NO SOLUTION for a screen which is already scratched. None. Zip. Apple is NOT replacing phones or screens under warranty as evidenced by the many posters here who have tried. You can be a another "me too" poster, but that won't get you a solution to a scratched screen.

So posting that using a screen protector is a wise, inexpensive investment is really the only solution for this. And I will continue to post this as the only smart solution.

Why your brand-new smartphone will scratch just as easily as your old one - The Verge

What's incomprehensible is you got your phone replaced and you still didn't slap a screen protector on your phone.

joshuadakota wrote:

Within 1 day I had a hairline scratch. It's really thin and I've been babying this phone since I've gotten it.

I had an 8 for 2 years and didn't have an issue like this at all. I have seen this problem a lot on message boards as well.

I went to the apple store saying I just bought this, there are no other scratches on this. They claimed accidental cosmetic damage and they wouldn't do anything about it.

Any ideas what I can do about this?

If you've owned the phone less than 14 days, return it for refund and if you still want the phone, buy it again, but put a screen protector on it, which Apple will install for you. If you've owned the phone longer than 14 days, put a screen protector on it to avoid getting additional scratches.

That's what you can do about it.