iPhone 11 screen scratches

I agree. I have had my phone for 2 weeks and it almost has as many scratches as my 4 year old iPhone 6S. I heard the screen is more break resistant. Apparently to make it less likely to break, they made it softer. Bad decision in my book.

I am using iPhones since 2010 and never had any scratch issues. I have never used and will never use screen protectors. Of course there are bare noticable micro scratches on the glass after lets say one year of intense usage and its okay.

But after one week of use I have noticed a large vertical scratch in the middle of the screen on my iPhone 11 Pro Max.

Once you know it - you keep seeing it. Especially indoors with reflecting lights using dark mode.

Of course I could have used one of my Apple Care repair slots for this. But what if it happens again and again? How often will I have to visit a genius bar and have to hope that I will get a free repair? How many hours will I waste with this fault?

For a almost 2000€ phone it is unacceptable for me to fiddle around even thinking about this.

I found this topic here and decided to return the device and get a refund.

Until this is resolved or officially commented I will stay on my old iPhone.

Maybe this was simply bad luck or a some rare issue but it killed my enthusiasm about this phone within days. I cannot put a repaired device or any other replacement phone in my pocket anymore without thinking about scratching it again.

As a customer - this time - I am not satisfied Apple - sorry!

"I wish apple would be reasonable and explain how we can prevent this."

Simple, it's called a screen protector. No iPhone I've ever owned went without one for longer than it took to take it out of the box, inspect it, and install the screen protector at the store. Never had a scratch, despite a drop to concrete from waist height that significantly damaged the tempered glass screen protector of my iPhone 8+. Those who go without protection are braver than I am.

On the other hand, the two iPad Pros I've owned did not have them because I did not like the effect on my Apple Pencil. But I use a cover whenever I'm not using the iPad. No scratches.

This is so frustrating to have a $1,000 + phone scratched in the first week without ever letting it come into contact with keys or other objects in my pocket or anything. My iPhone SE never had scratches on the screen after years of use. Apple, I am so mad. What can we do?

I'm having the same issue too. I've never used a screen protector for all my previous iPhones. But after using the iPhone 11 pro for a few days I'm noticing pretty visible scratch marks on my screen, and I haven't even dropped it or put it near anything that might cause this. Usually iPhone screens are pretty durable, but I don't know why this one is so easily scratched. And I'm noticing more and more faint lines appearing on the screen as well. I went to apple today, but they said this is the first time they heard this problem. So having finding this discussion, I think apple should take a look at this problem. I know scratches aren't covered even with apple care +. But it's pretty frustrating to have a new phone that you're using carefully and scratches just suddenly started appearing out of no where !!!

Can those who have brought their iPhones to Apple and have got some kind of response or solutions write some follow ups?

I have a case number, but I have to wait till I can go and see the geniuses. I would avoid any reseller or authorized service providers based on personal experiences. The best course going forward for Apple is to tweak production based on our inputs and some kind of “remedy” for the early adopters. By remedy, I mean a replacement unit, as they have usually done.

I went to Apple but they didn’t give me any solution apart from buying a screen replacement with or without Apple Care+... they actually considered it as accidental damage which is not covered by the warranty.

Except I’ve had an iPhone for 8 years (updates) annually so I’ve had every version. All without screen protectors and have never had this issue. Screen protectors ruin the experience of your phone, we’re developed to create a new revenue generating product line And are unnecessary if you’re not negligent with your phone. This issue is due to a complete manufacturing defect by Apple, not because ppl decided to not spend money on a screen protector.

Retracing my steps, I narrowed down what may have caused my scratch: flight’s seat belt buckle (phone was in my inside my north face fleece jacket chest/belly pocket—on flight, very unlikely the cause), or still covered by screen plastic stick-on replacement iPhone X (moved out of the fleece pocket, sandwiched screen to screen in my jeans pocket upon landing.)

Both phones are new, all it did was stay in the pocket for deplaning and walking to the luggage pick up area.

I have the same issue, I take extreme care of my phones, especially when they are not even a month old.

My hands are not sandpaper but apparently my phone can’t handle the swiping from my thumb.

there are scratch marks purely where I do most of my scrolling from my right thumb.

I have experienced the same issue. While in my pocket within 24hrs I have seen exteremely deep scratches on my device. It looks like the wear is six months of rugged use on the display glass, even though the device is only a week old. Something is off with the front glass, but the rear seems to hold up as advertised.

My Pro scratched after less than a week also. Just leave in pocket with no keys or change. What a waste of money really. You going to address these situations Apple? Its happening more than you think. Phones that expensive should NOT scratch that easy plain and simple. No excuses at all

I have a light scratch on the front of my Midnight Green Pro Max received on launch day through pre order. I purchased 3 total only mine has the issue however the other 2 are gold. Also Face Time echoing. Although after escalating to Apple engineering Monday 9/30/19 this problem has went away. I was wearing jeans with rivet pockets one day perhaps that's when it happened. My scratch seems to be in coating only to be seen from an angle. The rivet shouldn't be a 7 on the mohs scale. This is supposedly what it takes to scratch the screen. I did notify support on the issue waiting on response. The back and stainless band are flawless. I do have Applecare plus but this seems to be more widespread than I thought. It does seem every launch day phone has quirks. Maybe next year Ill wait until November. I am very particular about my electronics and am in no way hard on them. iPad Pro and Mac Book are a year old next month and look like they were purchased today. I hate screen protectors but may have to purchase one to insure no real damage occurs.

zero-or-one wrote:

I have the same issue as well. 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.

OK, I just did this, and I suggest you do also. Open a web search engine (I use DuckDuckGo, but I'm sure that Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc will give the same results.) Search for these:

iPhone XS screen scratches

iPhone XR screen scratches

iPhone X screen scratches

iPhone 8 screen scratches

iPhone 7 screen scratches

iPhone SE screen scratches

I stopped there, but you can go on if you want. EVERY iPhone that has ever been released has had multiple comments on how easily the screen scratches.

Now do the same for Samsung phones. Amazingly, you get the same results.

The real fact of life is that glass scratches if you don't take care of it. And not taking care of it means carrying it in a pocket without a slipcase or some other form of protection. Putting it in a pocket with keys is an obvious no-no (I hope). But even an "empty" pocket has normal grit from the environment in it. You can put a screen protector on it, but the screen protector will then scratch. At least you can replace it.

I don't use a screen protector, but I have always kept my phones in a fabric-lined holster. My wife keeps hers in a portfolio case. And amazingly, none of our phones (all 9 of them) have ever shown any scratches. Or perhaps not amazingly. Perhaps it all comes down to taking proper care of your $1,000 device.

This is not common at all for an iPhone. I’ve never had a scratch and after getting my iPhone 11 pro max, within 24hrs there was a micro scratch. I still can’t figure out how it happened. I’m very careful with my phones. I put it in my pocket and never have anything in it. Today I discovered that there are more micro scratches. I just can’t figure out how. iPhone screens never did this and with my previous iPhones I’ve never used a screen protector and never had a single micro scratch. This is disappointing.