iPhone 11 screen scratches

"Apple has clearly taken the position that scratching one's screen is accidental damage and is not replacing people's screens"

Wow, victim blaming as usual.

Let me clarify this for you, since you seem not to have paid enough attention to what people on this thread are actually complaining about; most people here are claiming that screens are being scratched to such a degree that cannot reasonably be explained away without any damage having happened to their phones. Sure, there are a few outliers who admit to having dropped their phones et cetera, however the majority claim to have taken good care of theirs. If paraphrasing this as "people scratching their phones" isn't disparaging, I don't know what is.

Incidentally, the second part of your claim is unbacked; Apple has yet to make a statement about "Scratchgate". Or do you, as not-an-Apple-employee know something that we don't? Even so, the claim that Apple doesn't replace scratched screens is utterly misinformed, since Apple did in fact replace the screens of multiple users including myself completely free of charge might I add.

Enjoy your travels. And enjoy that Belkin protector, which has been on my phone since before I even turned it on out of the box. I think you'll be impressed. They're even less prone to finger prints, which in addition to the great protection it offers to the screen, is smoother, in my opinion, than the actual screen.

As I suspected, you can see the screen just fine. With the screen on, your phone clearly looks fine and I'm also quite sure works just fine. Yes, I see the scratch, and I understand it annoys you, but unless you can't use or touch the screen, there isn't an issue which stops you from using the phone as intended. So your criticism to suggest the paint being scratched on a car doesn't affect driving the car is actually a fine analogy for an iPhone. The phone works fine with a scratch on it. This is a cosmetic issue, which is not affecting normal use of your phone. If you want to stop getting any more blemishes or scratches on your iPhone screen spend a few dollars and put a screen protector on it and call it a day.

Since you have posted on a user to user only forum, no one in charge will provide a response. If you are not happy, use the Contact Support button at the top of this page to address your concern with Apple directly. But don't be surprised when you are informed there is no coverage for cosmetic issues on iPhone.

Buy a good screen protector to avoid future incidents.

If you read the link above from the Verge, it will explain why. Apple, and everyone else, has chosen durability from drops over scratch resistance (you can’t have both). I would personally prefer better scratch resistance, as I don’t drop my phone nearly as much as I touch the screen!

Jtiani84 wrote:

It’s 2020, there must be the technology to make a durable glass that offers more scratch resistant than this.

There is not, its physics and materials science at work.

The Verge: WHY YOUR BRAND-NEW SMARTPHONE WILL SCRATCH JUST AS EASILY AS YOUR OLD ONE

While I agree that most will suggest a screen protector, and I don’t want to deter anyone from buying one. I offer my advice I have gone through every screen protector made for the 11 as well as a handful of cases for it ranging in otter boxes to life proof, much like I did with pervious model iPhones. My 6 plus, 7, X, and now my 11 are in worse shape then my 4s. The only difference is that all the newer models went from the box into a case with screen protectors on from the hands of Apple employees. My 4s is the only one I ran nude. That one has survived 2 drops a toddler and a 30 second chew session with a German Shepard. So yes one would think a screen protector and case would be enough. I leave the choice to the owners on running fully protected or nude. In my case running fully protected did absolutely nothing to save the phones

The apologists on this thread are maddening. The high susceptibility of some of these phones to scratches is clearly an issue for many people. The decision Apple made to make the screens soft in return for greater impact resistance is a bad move for a lot of people. In the unlikely event of a cracked screen applecare+ takes care of that. In the very likely event of a scratched screen applecare+ does not cover it full stop so users have to pay full price for a new screen out of pocket. We have every right to be irritated. It has been documented earlier in this thread by people having access to larger numbers of these phones that certain ones have softer screens than others, so there is some manufacturing variability or QC involved here.

ANTHONY__AUS wrote:

Be nice if Apple screens could be both shatter proof AND scratch proof. Please Apple, please.

Well, when Apple can defy the laws of physics and materials science, I'm sure they will.

Until then, read the article I linked and you will see that making screens more shatter-proof increases susceptibility to scratching.

Making screens less scratch-prone makes screens more fragile and prone to shatter.

There's no way to do both.

I tried with a 2-step German product for glass scratch removal (eg for watch faces). It didn’t remove the scratch fully and it added more fine scratches and made the screen a bit more prone to smudges. I DO NOT recommend any products to try to fix the scratches.

The consensus seems to be that they made the glass more resistant to drops, which comes at the expense of scratch resistance. Read the Verge article above.

I for one, and it sounds like most of the posters here agree, would prefer better scratch over shatter resistance.

Surge74 wrote:

I for one, and it sounds like most of the posters here agree, would prefer better scratch over shatter resistance.

Go back into older threads a bit and look at how many owners of iPhone 8 and before complained that they dropped their phone from "just a few inches" onto "a carpeted floor" and the front of the phone shattered.

Compare to the iPhone 11 series where similar complaints are quite rare.

Obviously there was something else in your pocket, grit or sand that scratched the phone.

You could rub the glass all day with a soft cloth and never scratch it, it requires something hard for damage to occur.

Here is a photo I just took of my iPhone 11 Pro Max, with the Apple Store installed Belkin screen protector, installed on launch day September 2019. There is not a single scratch on or underneath the screen. I have unfortunately dropped my phone, it's and just about every finger on my hands has touched the phone. A LOT.

Bill, I'm amused to see this thread is still going on!

This is the first time I've been back (to post a different question) since I somehow managed to avoid getting any scratches on my iPhone 11 Pro during 6 months of normal use. At which point I just gave up on this tread and put a screen protector on because I was going on vacation to a sandy place (and we should all know by now that sand, the most abundant mineral on earth, will scratch any phone on the market).

Can't tell the difference before or after...still no scratches.

I marvel at your persistence in trying to educate the public! ;-)