iPhone 11 screen scratches

Nothing is going to help anyone here. We are all users, and no matter how many post their phone is scratched, it's clear Apple isn't going to replace them for scratches, especially since none of the phones had a screen protector installed. Apple doesn't replace phones for cosmetic reasons. If someone is within their 14 day return window, they can return the phone for full refund. If they choose to re-buy the phone, they should put a screen protector on it and stop worrying as a screen protector will fully protect the screen. If they don't, they may well get scratches on their replacement phone.

The only advice which will help anyone is to recommend putting a screen protector on their phone to stop further scratches from happening. Perhaps not the advice you or anyone else with this are looking for, but the only advice that can help anyone.

Your pockets are filled with micro-sand particles. Keys likely won't scratch your phone. But sand surely will. There are many articles about this. When your pants are washed, the lint and dust bond with laundry soap, then get dried to from micro-sand particles. You can't see or feel them. But your iPhone screen can be scratched by them.

I NEVER would consider putting my very expensive iPhone in a pocket without a screen protector on it. I actually wouldn't put my phone in a pocket even WITH a screen protector.

Here's one article --> https://lifehacker.com/your-keys-arent-scratching-your-smartphone-its-the-san-5937324

No. It's been explained over and over and over and over and over in this thread, the new Corning Gorilla Glass 6 is indeed harder (as in harder to break in a fall), but clearly easier to scratch as evidenced by this thread and thread on Samsung forums, because Samsung who manufactures the screens for Apple is using the same Corning glass on their screens. Comparing an older iPhone which is more susceptible to screen breaks to this years model is comparing apples to peaches. They are not using the same glass. And this year's phone would benefit greatly from putting an inexpensive screen protector on it to avoid getting any more scratches.

According to the article, that's where things are headed. This year's iPhone does have Corning's Gorilla Glass 6. If you go to Youtube and watch drop tests of the new iPhone's, they are remaining crack free with drops far better than years past. But that in NO WAY means the screens can't be scratched. As has been posted over and over in this thread, there is a trade-off. To make the glass less prone to cracking, seems to make them easier to scratch as evidenced by the experience of many users in this thread. Samsung, who makes the displays for Apple uses the same glass on their phones this year. They are shipping them with a very cheap film screen protector, which scratches even easier, but does protect the glass itself from scratching.

Apple didn't put a cheap film on the new iPhone's. But a good screen protector seems to be highly recommended to protect these new screens this year.

From your pictures, it looks like you have a good case to protect the sides, but unfortunately there was an object that was hard and sharp enough to puncture the screen - hence the "bullet hole" near the bottom left.

I know this because I've dropped my phone more times than I can count on ten (or more) hands. While I now use a glass screen protector and case, the first time it dropped in a parking lot with small rocks that was exactly how it looked except the whole screen was full of those, not just the one that you have.

And like you, I felt absolutely frustrated - but once you get it fixed, it is absolutely necessary to get a screen protector for anything this expensive. Specifically, pick the tempered glass ones which has saved me from expensive repairs multiple times.

And yes, marketing is funny that way... the video shows the phone falling into a purse and of course they leave it up to us to decide what sort of soft or hard things are in that purse...

I had a little scratch on my iPhone 11 Pro Max as well after just 1 week of use taking extremely care of it, never used a case with any of my iPhones and never had so significant scratches, brought it with me to the Genius Bar and the guy decided to replace it as he wasn’t sure if it happened in the factory or as an accident. It’s worth trying bringing it to the Genius Bar as I didn’t have Apple Care at all and they replaced it.

I guess it’s at genius discretion though..

Update from my issue: I went into the Apple store with a genius appointment this week and they said they would offer a screen replacement as a one time courtesy. I came back an hour later and they ended up giving me a replacement phone. I saw my original and it looked like they had issues putting it back together, there was some type of glue or adhesive seeping out from the top.

i looked at the other 11 pro max display models in the store and all were badly scratched with the similar issue to mine.

I could see rubbing past a jeans rivet doing that. (I mean, if the screen doesn’t scratch until Mohs level 6, maybe it shouldn’t do that, but I would always have expected that result. I don’t know how hard jeans rivets are.)

As for the speculation about who supplies what that the forum admins took issue with, it’s irrelevant who supplies the displays anyway, because the cover glass is separate. There is plenty of public disclosure that Corning supplies the cover glass (a formulation unique to Apple,* so not necessarily the same as GG 6, as people keep mentioning), so who makes the OLED underneath is irrelevant.

To tell you the truth, after I got a tiny little blemish on my iPhone X screen from (I assume) rubbing against something in a pocket, I became much more obsessed with how I carry my phone around. I don’t like screen protectors, and during the week when I’m in business attire in my office, I don’t usually use a case either. What I do instead is make sure that the phone never rests on or brushes up against anything other than clean cotton. I keep a clean white cotton handkerchief in my pocket that the screen goes against, and if I’m going to put it in a bag or something, then it goes into a case against a hanky or a screen-cleaning cloth, or into one of those hotel shoe-shine clothes turned inside out (so the softest stuff is against the phone). When I’m at my desk it sits on a cotton hanky. My family thinks I’m a bit nuts, but I like to keep this gorgeous thing new-looking and I’ve kept my XS perfect this way for nearly a year.

*Sources: https://www.cnet.com/news/iphone-11-has-a-few-more-features-than-we-first-thought-u1/, https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-invests-250-million-in-corning-for-future-iphone-glass-research/

I think the common denominator is don't put the phone in your pocket without a screen protector. Period.

Small scratchy particles accumulate in pocket lint, and those will scratch any phone.

You can make glass more scratch resistant and then you get users who are upset because their screen shattered when they dropped it.

The video posted earlier shows how scratch resistant the glass truly is, the problem is that most people have detritus in their pockets that is more scratch-inducing than people expect.

bethvthomas wrote:

The exact same has happened to me! I’ve never once bought an iPhone, so I’m new to the family... but two days in to having the phone I’ve a deep scratch mark in my screen from placing it in my coat pocket that had a five pence piece in it?

The British 5p coin was made from cupro-nickel alloy (75% **, 25% Ni) before 2012, and "mild" (non-hardened low carbon) steel coated with pure nickel from 2012 onwards. Both of these coins are too soft to scratch an iPhone screen which has a hardness of ~6 on the Mohs scale vs the 3-4.5 range of the coins.

Despite people constantly worry about scratching their smart phone with coins and keys and posting on here about how they carefully keep their iPhone 11s far away from these items, no iPhone's screen (or virtually any other smartphone's screen) can be scratched by coins or keys. This has been extensively illustrated by JerryRigEverthing's testing videos on YouTube.

What most likely happened was that a tiny grain of sand (a common constituent of garden dirt not just your favorite beach) made its way unbeknownst into your pocket and scratched your iPhone. The most common component of sand is quartz (the second most common mineral on Earth), which can have a hardness of up to 7 on the Mohs scale and will scratch essentially every smartphone screen on the planet.

Bad luck, not a massive conspiracy.

TL;DR: Screen replaced by Apple Store, waived the incident fee.

A little over a month after my support call (3 days after buying the phone, 1 day after scratch appears.), I finally got the chance to bring in the phone to the Genius Bar.

It took them a few pairs of eyes and trips to the back office to confirm that it is a display scratch. At first they suggested that it’s cosmetic wear and tear that falls under normal usage, and after more than a month, he/she kinda implying that I have to bear the responsibility.

That’s when I pointed out the 1) date of report (chat transcript), and 2) the photo documenting the incident. The manager in charge eventually showed up and suggested some solution. Because my phone was purchased abroad, they don’t have a replacement model in stock, and due to some regulation they could not issue immediate replacement for my country model. A was to wait 5-7 days for replacement unit, and B, in-store display replacement. I went for B.

Hope you guys who have the same issue can get it sorted. If you have the same problem, take a photo and immediately report the case. If I wasn’t so swift, I would be paying for an incident repair. Otherwise, get AppleCare+ If you want to use the phone without a screen protector.

The iPhone 11 Pro, is my favorite iPhone to date. Killer battery life, awesome camera quality.

I was using an iPhone X prior to using the new iPhone 11. I used my new phone for like 2 days and gotten these micro scratches (and 1 slightly deeper one). I didn’t treat my iPhone 11 any differently from my iPhone X. The previous iteration of glass seems more durable and I suggest using screen protector on the get go to spare yourself some pain.

I have helped by explaining facts.

1. Glass scratches period
2. Screen protectors stop iPhone screens from being scratched
3. If someone chooses to carry a naked screen, they may get scratches and clearly some have
4. Apple isn't here reading these posts for any reason other than violating the terms of use
5. Complaining here isn't helping anyone and isn't getting Apple's attention on this user to user ONLY forum
6. People should take their iPhone directly to Apple and see if Apple will do anything to help them
7. If Apple won't, which they have for the most part not done (only a few people have posted Apple gave them a one time courtesy replacement), they can then put a screen protector on their phone to avoid further scratches
8. Of, if someone really can't stand the scratches and they have AppleCare+ they can use one of their warranty claims and have the screen replaced for $29 or significantly more if they don't have AppleCare+.
9. If within 14 days of purchase, they can also return the phone for full refund and get something else they may like better

This is reality and the ONLY help ANYONE can really offer in this thread. Otherwise, it's just a "me too" thread which isn't helping any of you.

Domdodo wrote:

It's called shoot the messenger. "You're holding it wrong."

People love to bring that up, but tests with that phone at the time showed that other phones when held directly over the antenna suffered the same drop offs in signal, so people indeed were "holding it wrong."

Apple offered free cases in that case to minimize the issue.

The bottom line is something contacted the screens in these cases and scratched the glass.

Regardless of whether it "should have" scratched, it was something sharp or abrasive contacting an unprotected screen.

With apologies to Jimmy Webb, if you bake a cake and leave it outside for a moment and it rains on it, you haven't done anything in particular to damage it, but you have allowed it to become damaged through your actions.

To make a long story short:

• If your screen is scratched and you are unhappy about it, take your phone to an Apple Store and have them look at it to see if they will replace it under warranty. They may or may not.

• If you are purchasing a new phone and want to avoid the possibility of damaging the screen, purchase a screen protector. Depending upon the model you choose it won't be more than $20 - $30 and if purchasing one of the Belkin protectors at an Apple Store, the staff will apply the protector for you.

• The only way Apple will find that any phones are "defective" will be after analyzing phones serviced in the first step above. Apple has been very good about reimbursing people for past repairs if they find an issue is indeed a defect.

• My purpose here has been to provide users with facts about their device, the state of glass production in the industry, and the physical fact that stronger glass is less scratch-resistant. If you believe that is not true, design your own glass and put Corning out of business,

If you are upset with Apple and are within 14 days of purchase, return your phone for a refund and buy something else.

If you are within the first 14 days return the phone for refund. If you have owned the phone longer than 14 days, put a screen protector on the phone. Apple is not replacing these phones for cosmetic reasons. If you purchased AppleCare+ when you purchased the phone, use one of your screen replacements for $29. If you did not purchase AppleCare+ pay $199 for a new screen (then put a screen protector on your phone).