iPhone 11 screen scratches

My iphone 11 pro max without a screen protector: 3 vertical scratches right above the power button OUT OF THE BOX. In two weeks I have two new tiny scratches on the screen after extremely careful usage: alone in the pocket, I clean my phone pocket from lint after washing every single time on all of my pants/jeans, I wear normal jeans with normal pockets, I don't have anything on the exit of the phone's pocket, I always place my phone face up and I never place it on hard surface like a table (even at work it sit's on paper and every day it's different page, etc) or tl:dr I take care of my phones A LOT more than the average person and close to insanity level.

I believe you, but the 4 of you saying the phone is ok, from which only 2 use it without a screen protector - should understand that there is something in this world as defective batches and that if we isolate the screen itself it DOES NOT come from one factory, it's real possibility that one of those got a problem and manufacture defective screens.

This phone is the most expensive one ever made (will count out the gold covered ones or the folding prototypes), ad campaign shown durability (water, scratch and drop resistance) and this is a key point in it. It's ridiculous to show the phone dropped between the seats of a car and on the floor with all the dirt and sand there and then in real life the phone to scratch in the hands of a person that go as far as cleaning his phone pocket all the time from anything within. I personally didn't expect more durability regarding scratches, but I totally expected it to be as scratch resistance as my note 9 that got NONE after 14 months on top of the 15+ years of owning premium smartphones.

Yes, my scratches are tiny, but I am pretty sure that if my phone was in the hands of a normal person - they would had been a lot worse. Disappointing as ****.

I just talked to the support and they know nothing about this problem. This thread could be a hint, but ok.

The only way is, to report this problem to the Apple Support so they can maybe so a coherence of flawed displays in some charges/serialnumbers.

For the record:

iPhone Pro Max 256 spacegrey

Bought via Apple.com 10/10/19, delievered 10/24/19

3 sensible scratches and a lot of light scratches for putting/wearing it in to my pants I guess.

It's my 6th iPhone and the old 6 and 7+ are looking just fine and new compared to the iP11.

How Apple react? Who knows. The battery problems years ago they kept quiet over two years and then the changed the battery.

In my opinion it's stupid of Apple to don't react on problems, they are very obvious for affected customers like battery-shut-downs or easiest scratches on display in this case here.

Let's hope, Apple is still the company they pretend to be.

Here is my story. My original pro max shattered when it fell, about 4 inches, after it slipped from my hand. Not only this but it already has a long scratch caused by taking out of my empty pocket. So I made an insurance claim and now have an “identical” replacement which seems to be more resilient to scratches. This indicates to me that there was a fault with my original phone.

This aside as I see the main issue as the way the phone has been advertised. The TV ad here in the uk showed it being dropped, shows it being put into a bag with other items and the word toughest yet are used elsewhere in their campaign. That’s crazy....why advertise the phone, it literally makes no sense. Peoples expectations have been raised to the point where the phone isn’t possible for the product to satisfy them. That’s on Apple not on their clients. If you’re not meant to drop it, or carry in bags then don’t advertise in this way....simple

My iPhone 11 256GB seems to be fine right out of the box. Only two really tiny light scratches that probably happened while assembling/packaging that can only be seen with a bright flashlight. Not a big deal for me. But I am also going to apply a screen protector as soon as I'll be using the device as my daily driver. No need to risk anything.

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Week 35, C3 China Foxxcon. Since 9/20 zero scratches. Let’s see how many claim they have a “bad batch” in my “batch”. 😝

BTW, batching has never proven reliable since they’re so huge and sub parts are outsourced in many cases.

I agree with Chad Clark's comment that trying to deduce the characteristics of a particular phone from the manufacturing date and plant is probably pointless. The components are made by Apple suppliers (in the case of the cover glass, by Corning) and then sent to all of the factories. Even if there was an issue with a certain batch of glass (which I doubt, but anything is possible), for all we know that glass could be sent to all of the factories and be used across multiple dates. Conversely, glass from different Corning batches might be used in the same "batch" of iPhones.

As an example, in past years as I played the OLED lottery to try to find an iPhone X and then XS screen that I liked,* I tried multiple units from different Foxconn factories and different dates, and there did not seem to be any correlation between batch and unit characteristics; i.e., two units from the same factory and date would have wildly different screen characteristics.

So, I wouldn't waste my time on that analysis if I were you.

_____

*In that case I was trying to find one with the least off-axis colour shift (and the most pleasing shift—some shifted pink while others shifted blue), the most pleasing white balance and contrast, the least visible colour bands on the edges, etc. From what I've seen, I think they've finally become quite consistent with the iPhone 11 Pro (though I'll be checking more in earnest shortly), but the X and XS were quite variable from unit to unit.

Had to replace iPhone 6 Because they stop supporting it with updates. I was tempted to get another brand but having a Mac mini I got the best phone Apple has (11 Pro Max w/512gb) and ended up spending with tax $1691.41 at the Tulsa store. I always carried my iPhone 6 in my pocket without a screen protector and never got a scratch. Then, within a month of getting the iPhone 11 Pro Max I now notice a deep 2 inch gouge on the right side of my screen that looks like it must’ve been made with a diamond ring. I do not keep diamond rings in my pocket. I’m going down to the store today to try to get a refund but don’t think I’ll be able to. I guess if they won’t refund my money I’ll just have to live with a screen protector. Any glass should be tougher than this. Sad. I’ve read several stories like this on the internet and think they need a recall program for this new “gorilla” glass. God knows they can afford it.

Adding my two cents hoping we'll get a response from Apple. Just noticed a horizontal hairline scratch on my 11 Pro Max/silver/256gb, did a search and ended up reading through this thread. Like others I take good care of my phone, haven't dropped it, and have had it in a two piece case with a front screen protector since day 1. Noticeable under a bright light where the scratch has a rainbow effect. Had a 7+ with no screen protector for two years with no noticeable scratches.

I found comments on the easy scratch issue after purchasing iphone 11. And I was super careful to make sure that I don't put keys and the phone in the same pocket (which I did all the time and never caused any issue with my Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung, Iphone4s, Iphone6, and avoid putting hard items on the screen. I was waiting for the screen protector to be sent to my home from China (one month's of waiting, but I don't want to pay like 5* price in Australia), and I thought that it should survive a month if I was careful enough. But apparently I was too naive.

Well that was the calculation you made; to avoid paying for a screen protector you ended up with cosmetic damage to your phone.

If you decide to go liability only with your auto insurance for a month then you get hit by another driver when you aren't covered…

Day 12 now and still no scratches.

I stopped even trying to scratch this thing. I am pretty convinced by now it should be fine.

I would like to ask one of you who has scratches to do an experiment since you already have scratches. I would like you to take a key or anything that is less than a 6 in hardness, and try to scratch you screen with it.

If your screen scratches with something with a hardness of 5 or lower then you have a defective screen as these screens only start scratching at level 6.

you can then take your phone to an apple store and show them that is can be scratched with something softer than advertised. I took a key to mine and could not scratch it.

If you can prove it to them, they may be able to help you at that point.

If your phone does not scratch at lower than level 6 then that fact is that you simple scratched your phone on something hard.

Just a thought.

Because it is a result of user error unless the scratches were present when the plastic wrap the phone was shipped in was removed.

You obviously may disagree as to whether whatever scratched the screen should have been able to scratch it or not, but it was a result of some action a user took.

Does that make it a user error? Not necessarily.

Was it the result of a user action? Yes it was.

Is protecting from that the reason screen protectors exist as a product? Yes it is.

Does it mean you need a screen protector to protect from any and all damage? It depends on your use case for the device. Some people use cases with integral screen protectors. Others use their phones in way that guarantee they will never rub up against anything even remotely abrasive unless windblown sand impacts the device.

Would I be happy if my display were scratched? Of course not.

It's also why phones I purchase do not come out of the plastic wrap until a screen protector is on hand and ready to be applied.

Though you are usually covered, it's no different than calling your insurance agent to make sure a new car is covered before ever driving it off the lot.

sergekills wrote:

im so sick and tired of this whining flooding my inbox.

guys, how do I stop notifications for this topic?

Unfortunately, it's a bug in Apple Support Communities at the moment. Some have said if you click "Followiing" so it becomes deselected and reads "Follow" and reload enough times, eventually the unfollow will "stick" but I haven't had luck with that so far.

You would be right, if unusual user action caused these issues, but that's not people are reporting. I don't think anyone can, in good faith, refute that putting your iPhone in your pocket is a completely normal action.

It is good to see that you have no scratch on your phone. I believe not many people would like to carry on the experiment you suggested cause very few of ordinary users are interested in taking such risk.

I have no idea about the hardness of most items, except for diamond (if I remember correctly, it is 10). Same day to day usage, never had an issue of scratching on screen like iphone 11, and I only got this phone for less than a month and I was using it in a super careful way comparing with how I handled the phones I owned before because I saw comments on the scratch issue. Maybe my diamond ring was the reason, but wait for a second, I don't have a diamond ring.

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