The iPhone 17 Professional would possibly scratch simpler than a lottery ticket

After being revealed by Apple at its “Awe dropping” keynote occasion earlier this month, the iPhone 17 series formally began delivery final week, and Apple’s brand-new iPhones are formally within the wild now for folks to check and bend to the limits, actually.

Naturally, inside hours of the iPhone 17 collection launching final Friday, a discovery was made moderately rapidly concerning the construct high quality of the brand new iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max: it is extra inclined to scratching.

Guests to Apple Shops rapidly seen that scratches have been already seen on demo models of the brand new iPhone 17 Professional, particularly on the deep blue coloration, which showcased scratches probably the most (by way of Bloomberg). The cosmic orange and silver colours additionally exhibited related points. On social media, images of the scratches unfold like wildfire, elevating considerations concerning the scratch resistance of the iPhone 17 Professional in comparison with final 12 months’s iPhone 16 Professional. Some folks have already begun coining the controversy as “scratchgate.”

Why is the iPhone 17 Professional scratching so simply?

You possibly can thank aluminum for that

If you happen to’re questioning why the iPhone 17 Professional may be extra vulnerable to scratches than earlier Professional iPhone fashions, it is possible as a consequence of its new unibody aluminum design. The iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 16 Professional have been each product of titanium with glass backs, whereas the iPhone 17 Professional is fully an aluminum design with a piece of glass on the again for wi-fi charging, which is why the again of the machine has two coloration tones (as seen within the picture above). Aluminum is well-known for being extra inclined to scratches than titanium, therefore why this concern is simply cropping up now.

JerryRigEverything, a YouTuber well-known for testing smartphone sturdiness, found that the iPhone 17 Professional’s digicam plateau was extra inclined to scuffs than anyplace else on the telephone, as a consequence of how the coloured aluminum oxide layer from the anodization course of does not adhere effectively to sharp corners. You possibly can see an instance of this under from a put up on X, the place you possibly can see the perimeters of the digicam plateau of the cosmic orange iPhone 17 Professional scratched off.

Nonetheless, it is now all dangerous information for the iPhone 17 Professional. On Instagram, JerryRigEveryThing posted a photograph of his deep blue iPhone 17 Professional laden with scratches, saying: “Enjoyable truth: 99% of the ‘scratches’ you see on this image is simply mud from coin and keys I used to make the marks. It’s going to all fully rub off.” So, scratchgate is not essentially the top of the world for Apple’s new iPhone, and a few scratches and the mud from them would possibly simply simply wipe away.

Regardless of a few of the scratches having the ability to wiped away, that does not imply folks aren’t justifiably involved about their shiny new $1,000 iPhone instantly having a nasty-looking scratch on it, or the colour chipping off. This concern jogs my memory lots of the MacBook, which additionally has a unibody aluminum design. If you happen to get a scratch on it, you possibly can normally wipe it away, however typically the paint does chip close to USB ports, related to what’s occurring on the iPhone 17 Professional’s digicam plateau.

The best option to stop this from occurring is just by placing a case on the iPhone 17 Professional, and there is a good probability many individuals who spent a $1,000 or extra on their new iPhone have already achieved this. For individuals who select to make use of the iPhone 17 Professional with no case, it is essential to concentrate on the scratch threat.

After seeing scratchgate unfold over the weekend, when my deep blue iPhone 17 Professional Max arrived within the mail, I instantly went to the closest Apple Retailer and acquired a display screen protector and a case. In my opinion, it is at all times higher to be secure than sorry, even with Apple’s new Ceramic Shield 2 supposedly defending the telephone higher. Apple hasn’t formally commented on scratchgate, however it is going to be attention-grabbing to see if it ever addresses it.

If you happen to purchased an iPhone 17 Professional, tell us within the feedback under how your telephone is holding up to date.