Summary
- Apple’s brand-new iPhone 17 Pro has been found to be more prone to scratches than last year’s iPhone 16 Pro.
- The iPhone 17 Pro’s new unibody aluminum design is likely the culprit, as aluminum is more susceptible to scratches than titanium.
- Scratches are most noticeable on the iPhone 17 Pro’s deep blue color and around the camera plateau.
After being revealed by Apple at its “Awe dropping” keynote event earlier this month, the iPhone 17 series officially started shipping last week, and Apple’s brand-new iPhones are officially in the wild now for people to test and bend to the limits, literally.
Naturally, within hours of the iPhone 17 series launching last Friday, a discovery was made rather quickly about the build quality of the new iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max: it’s more susceptible to scratching.
Visitors to Apple Stores quickly noticed that scratches were already visible on demo units of the new iPhone 17 Pro, especially on the deep blue color, which showcased scratches the most (via Bloomberg). The cosmic orange and silver colors also exhibited similar issues. On social media, photos of the scratches spread like wildfire, raising concerns about the scratch resistance of the iPhone 17 Pro compared to last year’s iPhone 16 Pro. Some people have already begun coining the controversy as “scratchgate.”
- Brand
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Apple
- SoC
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A19 Pro
- Display
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6.3-inch 1206 x 2622 pixel resolution Super Retina XDR OLED, 120Hz, HDR10, Dolby Vision, 1000 nits / 1600 nits peak brightness
- RAM
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N/A
The iPhone 17 Pro is Apple’s next-generation flagship smartphone, with a new aluminum unibody design, a full-width camera plateau, the A19 Pro chipset, and a 6.3-inch display.
Why is the iPhone 17 Pro scratching so easily?
You can thank aluminum for that
If you’re wondering why the iPhone 17 Pro might be more prone to scratches than previous Pro iPhone models, it’s likely due to its new unibody aluminum design. The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro were both made of titanium with glass backs, whereas the iPhone 17 Pro is entirely an aluminum design with a section of glass on the back for wireless charging, which is why the back of the device has two color tones (as seen in the image above). Aluminum is well known for being more susceptible to scratches than titanium, hence why this issue is just cropping up now.
JerryRigEverything, a YouTuber famous for testing smartphone durability, discovered that the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera plateau was more susceptible to scuffs than anywhere else on the phone, due to how the colored aluminum oxide layer from the anodization process doesn’t adhere well to sharp corners. You can see an example of this below from a post on X, where you can see the edges of the camera plateau of the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Pro scratched off.
However, it’s now all bad news for the iPhone 17 Pro. On Instagram, JerryRigEveryThing posted a photo of his deep blue iPhone 17 Pro laden with scratches, saying: “Fun fact: 99% of the ‘scratches’ you see in this picture is just dust from coin and keys I used to make the marks. It will all completely rub off.” So, scratchgate isn’t necessarily the end of the world for Apple’s new iPhone, and some scratches and the dust from them might just easily wipe away.
Despite some of the scratches being able to wiped away, that doesn’t mean people aren’t justifiably concerned about their shiny new $1,000 iPhone suddenly having a nasty-looking scratch on it, or the color chipping off. This issue reminds me a lot of the MacBook, which also has a unibody aluminum design. If you get a scratch on it, you can usually wipe it away, but sometimes the paint does chip near USB ports, similar to what is happening on the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera plateau.
The easiest way to prevent this from happening is simply by putting a case on the iPhone 17 Pro, and there’s a good chance many people who spent a $1,000 or more on their new iPhone have already done this. For those who choose to use the iPhone 17 Pro without a case, it’s important to be aware of the scratch risk.
After seeing scratchgate unfold over the weekend, when my deep blue iPhone 17 Pro Max arrived in the mail, I immediately went to the nearest Apple Store and got a screen protector and a case. In my view, it’s always better to be safe than sorry, even with Apple’s new Ceramic Shield 2 supposedly protecting the phone better. Apple hasn’t officially commented on scratchgate, but it will be interesting to see if it ever addresses it.
If you bought an iPhone 17 Pro, let us know in the comments below how your phone is holding up so far.
