In their advertising, Apple says that the iPhone 4′s aerospace-grade glass is “chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic”. According to them, “the glass is ultradurable and more scratch resistant than ever”.
In his review, Walter Mossberg agreed. He said that he tried to break it and scratch it, and he couldn’t do it:
I dropped it several times from a few feet onto a hard surface with no problem, and it acquired no scratches at all in my testing, even though I didn’t use a case or coddle it.
But as this photo shows, maybe he didn’t try hard enough. Gdgt editor Ryan Block didn’t even try to scratch his, but he got a scratch anyway in normal daily use: Gdgt editor Ryan Block takes this photo of Engadget’s J. Topolsky’s official Apple review iPhone (thanks metronome49):
Just spotted on the iPhone 4′s supposedly nigh-indestructible glass: scratches. Seriously. Not good!
No, not good indeed. Is this a one-in-a-million occurrence or would this turn into an Apple PowerMac G4 Cube-style plague? Only time will tell. [Twitter]
Daryl
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 7:20 AMshow me a product that doesn’t get a scratch, especially one as glossy as this.. It’s not like Apple claimed that it will NEVER be scratched.
Not to mention if you actively go out to break or scratch your phone, chances are you’ll succeed. I love that it doesn’t tell how this happpend
matt
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 10:01 AMshow me a product that’s keynote and promotion bragged so much about it being scratch resistant.
boc
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 9:14 PM+1
It’d be nice if we could up/down-rank comments here. Then again, AU-side doesn’t get that many commenters any way. hehe
olearymo
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 8:50 AMIt’s a feature.
or
See the scratch on the new iphone? it’s GORGEOUS!
Superintendent Chalmers.
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 12:57 PMIt’s iScratch courtesy of iMlaughingallthewaytothebanksuckers!
dwilks
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 1:25 PM…
OR
…
Magical
Nicholas
Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 7:50 PMWizards did it.
Josh
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 12:31 PMAnyone who claimed the iPhones glass was unscratchable and indestructable is a tool.
Apple’s chemically toughend glass is pretty good in terms of quality and durability. The best part being that 9 time out of 10 if you do smash the touchscreen you can still use it (depending on the damage).
As a mobile tech, we’d see customers come in with shattered touchscreens that still worked and they’d just deal with it untill they saved enough for the repair.
In my opinion all mobile manufactures should take a leaf from Apple’s book when it comes to touchscreens.
Wow, I sound like a fanboy… and I hate Apple with a passion.
boc
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 1:09 PMYou’re saying that every spokesperson including Steve Jobs is a tool then because, you know, they made some pretty big claims about it’s scratch resistance.
As a mobile tech you should be well aware then that broken screens are the biggest issue that Apple customer care deals with for iPhone, 3G, and 3GS.
Yet another Apple claim that doesn’t live up to the hype.
Yoda
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 12:39 PMI left my 3GS without a screen protector for a few days and the screen coped a scratch. I didn’t drop it once and I’m sure I didn’t have it next to my keys. So unless it has a diamond like surface, I think it will be scratchable.
David B
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 2:00 PMPersonally, I think its quite good as well. When you think about it, plastic scratches very easily. Think about those clear plastic domes on playground equipment. They are normally so scratched after use that they look opaque. It is a inconvenience that it scratches, but like someone else mentioned, they said it is “More resistant” to scratching.
Using it day in and day out, putting it in your pocket, on your car seat, taking it everywhere with you, you tend to expect it to get a bit beaten about. So personally, I don’t think they have done a half bad job so far.