iPhone 11 Owners Angry Over Easily Scratched Screens

(Image credit: Apple Support Forums)

A wave of users that is quickly turning into a tsunami is claiming that their iPhone 11 displays scratch way too easily. The photos and testimonies they are posting in this Apple support thread are pretty damning, but the company hasn’t replied to any of this yet. 

These users are claiming that their phones are getting scratched no matter how much care they put into making sure that nothing can damage them. They say that they only put their phones in their pockets — free of coins, keys or any other objects — and the phones will get microscratches apparently out of nowhere. Sometimes the scratches even look like permanent smears, as you can see in the photo above.

All of the reports come from users who claim to have had other iPhones in the past and have never experienced these problems:

I'm also having this problem on my new iPhone 11 Pro. I've had it for roughly 2 weeks. It only ever goes in my pocket or on a wireless charger. I already have scratches on the display that didn't show up on my last iPhone X until after 2 years of use.

thelaststep1989 - Apple Support Forums

Another user added that “the screen feels like it can get scratches or smears when not even in contact with sharp or rough surfaces. Never had this issue with previous generation iPhones. Not impressed.” 

Most of the reports are like that, often containing detailed circumstances about how the scratches happened: “My wife and me have put our brand new iPhones 11 inside our pocket pants and both screens get scratched the second day of use (mines right in the selfie camera, apple says ‘without mal function’).” In other words, people are not subjecting their iPhones to torture tests.

Many users are claiming they are long time iPhone users and they have never experienced anything similar, like this one: “I have used the iPhone since the first generation. I never install any screen protector, and I never had any serious scratch whatsoever. This is the first time I experience something like this.”

The people affected are claiming that Apple Store technicians are telling them the damage is their fault, even while they say that they have never exposed their phone to any objects that may have scratched them.

Here are some of the images we collected in the thread, which is at 17 pages at the time of writing:

It’s not the first time that Apple phones have experienced this kind of trouble. While it is too early to tell, it’s worrying to see that a lot of people who have paid a thousand dollars or more for their iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max are seeing how easily their displays are scratching.

After all, when it launched back in September, Apple claimed that this was the toughest glass in a phone ever. By these accounts, this does not appear to be the case.

Are you experiencing this problem? Make sure to comment on the Apple support thread and add photos.

Jesus Diaz

Jesus Diaz founded the new Sploid for Gawker Media after seven years working at Gizmodo, where he helmed the lost-in-a-bar iPhone 4 story and wrote old angry man rants, among other things. He's a creative director, screenwriter, and producer at The Magic Sauce, and currently writes for Fast Company and Tom's Guide.

  • maxcypond
    This seems like an easy hardness test for a testing laboratory. In fact this seems like and easy test to see what a random selection of smart phone models demonstrate.

    Anything less than a Moh 8 should not be on a smart phone. Which means the only things near you that should scratch the screen is another iPhone screen, sapphire watch face, or diamonds. I think Corning Glass makes the screen glass, so this could be Corning fault. Or, Apple light have asked for special material that is not Gorilla glass... ?

    Lets see who throws who under the bus!
    Reply