Greetings.
I noticed the staining on the corners of my screen and along the edges recently after deciding it was time for a screen cleaning. I have the MacBook Pro, late 2013 purchased in March of 2014.
I've been very careful of my screen, I'm the only one who uses it and I've only cleaned it about 5 times with a clean cotton cloth slightly moistened in water. This time as I was rubbing gently I noticed the "smudge" I was working on was growing rather than shrinking. I immediately stopped, realizing that the coating was rubbing off before my eyes.
Now I've come across this thread and I've read many users have the same issue, and the comments saying it's caused by users acidic or greasy fingers or too much pressure and Apple's response that it's "cosmetic". To that I say hogwash.
Apple would love to push this back onto the users. However, I believe that it is a design flaw in the sense that the coating cannot stand up to normal usage of the product, and it's not just "cosmetic" as the screen is so central to the operation and usability of the product. This is a premium product that we paid good money for.
I'm sure that the deposition of this AR coating is very thin and carefully and precisely controlled to give good optical qualities, but manufacturing problems do occur. Maybe the coating is too thin? Or let's guess that something else is going on here - like oxidation. I'm not a chemist, but it would explain the slow degradation of the coating and its propensity to become a weaker over time. Or let's say it's normal skin oils transferred from the keyboard. Shouldn't a product that is designed to be touched by human hands be tolerant of our natural skin oils?
Surely some users are rough on their computers, but I'm not among them. I know how well I've handled my laptop and don't believe that wear of the coating should be considered normal. I'll never clean the screen again for fear of rubbing off more coating, and it's inevitable that some contaminates will contact the screen. Leaving them forever can't be good either. The screen should be able to withstand everyday usage and occasional cleanings without problems.
Thus, it's a problem that Apple should acknowledge and issue a repair program for. My computer is only 1 1/2 years old and I'm angered by the situation. I want a solution short of paying for a new screen out of my pocket! I want Apple to fix it!
