eelco208 wrote:
There is a huge difference with this phone and others, since this one already scratches at contacts with other soft materials.
That's simply not true.
The iPhone 12 screen is around a 5.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, which means only materials harder than that scratch it.
However, the most common component in sand and gravel, quartz, bits of which are actually found in most pockets just because it's common airborne debris, is harder.
Fingernails and pennies are not; knives and steel may be so, that means car keys could be problematic.
As mentioned previously, the thinking of the phone industry (not just Apple) is this:
You can protect your phone from scratches with a $30 screen protector.
Replacing a cracked phone screen may be up to $600, and you can't add anything to a phone screen that realistically makes it less likely to crack in a fall (you can add a tempered glass protector that somewhat protects from impacts directly on the screen, and cases can help absorb the shock of a fall.)
Most customers would prefer to replace a $30 protector if it breaks (because harder glass is brittle) than their $600 phone screen.