iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro Owners Complaining about Ceramic Shield Glass Getting Scratched Easily

BY Mahit Huilgol

Published 26 Oct 2020

Apple talked at length about the toughness of Ceramic Sheild on the iPhone 12 during the launch. Apple touts the Ceramic Sheild less likely to break when dropped, and drop test confirmed the same. However, some users claim that iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro screen are getting scratched with only a few days of usage.

Apple boasts that the ceramic shield on iPhone 12 comprises nano-ceramic crystals and offers “high flaw resistance and provides a mechanism to deflect and arrest cracks.” If we go by this statement, the iPhone 12 glass should offer increased resistance to scratches. However, things seem to be quite the opposite in real-life situations.

 

In the above Tweet, an iPhone 12 owner describes how the screen was scratched within 5 minutes of unboxing. The person also claims that he doesn’t know what happened. We would have dismissed it as a one-off case; however, other iPhone 12 users seem to have similar complaints.

 

James Rivera from Pocketnow has a similar story to tell. His iPhone 12 had scratches after stacking it with other phones.

 

Yet another user complained of scratches on iPhone 12 Pro right after unboxing. Almost all the complaints have a common theme i.e. the iPhone 12/iPhone 12 Pro got scratched easily within days or even hours after unboxing. That’s not all one of the users also observed a scratch on the bezel.

Our Take

The above video clearly shows scratches on the iPhone 11 Pro, followed by a series of images highlighting the same. This makes us wonder whether Apple traded scratch resistance for glass strength. It is even more confusing that iPhone 12 performed better in the drop test.  A YouTuber did a scratch test on iPhone 12 and surprisingly the scratch resistance had increased by leaps and bounds. Apple is yet to comment on the issue.

 

Did you observe any scratches on your new iPhone 12/iPhone 12 Pro? Share your thoughts in the comments below.