Why the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Execs Are Scratching Alarmingly Quick

If Steve Jobs have been nonetheless alive, he would have advised customers complaining about scratching on the aluminum and glass designs of the brand new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Execs, “There is no such thing as a scratching concern. Keep tuned.”

Simply as shortly as customers bought their palms on the brand new super-thin iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Pro/17 Pro Max on launch day final Friday, Sept. 19, movies and reports began going viral showing scratches and scuff marks on retail demo models at Apple shops worldwide. The movies threatened a brand new “scratchgate” for Apple’s new premium smartphones, which begin at $999 for the iPhone Air and $1,099 for the iPhone 17 Professional.

Jobs famously told a Gizmodo reader, “There is no such thing as a reception concern. Keep tuned,” following the launch of the iPhone 4 when customers discovered that gripping the telephone in a sure method that lined the antenna bands constructed into the stainless-steel band caused the cellular signal to drop to unusable levels.

His “actuality distortion discipline” or gaslighting wouldn’t have labored as effectively in right now’s social media world, the place each and any concern is exaggerated with out correct context. Social media customers are extra incentivized to perpetuate an uninformed narrative to maintain the viral practice operating. Observe-ups and training on why one thing could also be occurring are much less favored, even when they’re completed, as a result of they don’t get as many views or spark the identical quantity of shock.

Demo unit iPhone 17 Professional scratches on day 1… (it’s not even 24 hours but)

Use a case instantly when you don’t wait to expertise this type of concern. I’m very disenchanted with the standard right here pic.twitter.com/zRjIQrl3zA

— Bradley (@VerdeSelvans) September 19, 2025

Each video appears to indicate the brand new iPhones with seen harm to the aluminum frames, notably across the iPhone 17 Execs’ huge rectangular digital camera “plateau” or to the glass bottom. The scratches are most distinguished on the brand new Cosmic Orange and Deep Blue colorways, which, after harm, reveal the silver aluminum beneath.

Cannot consider the iPhone 17 Professional demo models in shops are already scratched up. Did not take lengthy in any respect. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/0qxSD25lit

— Safari✈️ (@update4weekly) September 18, 2025

How can costly new iPhones have such poor sturdiness? The scenario is all of the extra ironic contemplating Apple really claims all the iPhone lineup this yr makes use of a Ceramic Defend 2 cowl glass that’s marketed as 3 times extra scratch-resistant than iPhones with Ceramic Defend. Gizmodo reached out to Apple however didn’t obtain a response by the point of publishing. We’ll replace this story if we obtain a press release.

Anodized aluminum will naturally scratch

Effectively, I’ve some dangerous information you might not need to hear. Whereas I can’t rule out that Apple could have cheaped out on the paint job for the iPhone 17 Execs, I extremely doubt that. For the uninitiated, the iPhone 17 Execs get their coloured aluminum by way of a course of known as anodization, which is an electrochemical course of that not solely strengthens the metallic but in addition permits for it to be dyed. This isn’t a brand new approach, neither is it Apple’s first rodeo utilizing it in merchandise. Apple anodizes all of its aluminum merchandise, and each coloured aluminum machine is dyed utilizing the method.

Scratching, chipping, and scuffing are regular for anodized aluminum.

Want proof? Return and take a look at all of the previous, candy-colored iPod nanos from again within the day. Until you wore gloves and babied the music gamers, all of them chipped and scratched simply from each day put on and tear. It’s completely regular. (I believe the “battle-scarred” look even provides character to the units, displaying they’ve been used and beloved. Think about if all the things in Star Wars was pristine; it’d look pretend.)

Apple Retailer MagSafe stands accountable? Mud, not scratches?

However, however, the iPhone 17 Execs have been displaying harm mere minutes and hours after shops stocked them. I hate to be Captain Apparent, however whenever you’ve bought tons of, if not hundreds, of individuals actually fondling the units nonstop and never being mild with them as they slap them again onto the MagSafe retail stands, seen harm is certain to occur at a quicker charge.

I believe the difficulty right here is that the MagSafe stands in Apple Shops have a metallic ring on prime, which is straightforward to scrape when lifting the telephone off. And over time this metallic will get scuffed, making the difficulty worse. https://t.co/sXd4kQ9LHC pic.twitter.com/a78oKW7oZl

— Dylan (@DylanMcD8) September 21, 2025

Zack Nelson, aka JerryRigEverything, who you might know because the man who does telephone sturdiness checks by placing them by way of torture trials like bending, scratching, and even burning them, says in his latest video that the scratches may very well be extra momentary than urged in social movies.

“Enjoyable truth: 99% of the ‘scratches’ you see on this image is simply mud from coin and keys i used to make the marks,” Nelson shared in an Instagram post. “It is going to all fully rub off. Aside from the final 1% of injury across the sharp nook of the digital camera plateau that you just gotta be careful for.”

Others have additionally sounded off on the misinformation surrounding the MagSafe outlines seen on the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Execs:

You might be seeing photographs like this displaying the iPhone 17 Professional and Air “scratching simply”, however these are deceptive.

The “scratched” portion is glass, not aluminium. In actual fact, these should not scratches in any respect however merely materials deposits from the aluminium MagSafe pucks rubbing… pic.twitter.com/VlZUfOShH4

— AppleLeaker (@LeakerApple) September 21, 2025

“In actual fact, these should not scratches in any respect however merely materials deposits from the aluminium MagSafe pucks rubbing in opposition to these telephones,” wrote X user AppleLeaker. “The again glass is matte with microscopic grooves that file-down the aluminium MagSafe pucks and go away behind marks. These marks might be wiped away with a micro fibre fabric, generally requiring cleansing alcohol.”

Aluminum is a softer metallic

And what about how simply dentable the iPhone 17 Execs are? To not be a clever man and let you know to return to highschool chemistry, however aluminum is a softer metallic than the titanium used within the iPhone Air (and iPhone 15 Execs and 16 Execs) or the stainless-steel used within the iPhone X by way of the iPhone 14 Execs. So, after all, dents are going to be seen when you drop it. Use a case when you’re actually anxious about harm. If you’d like one thing extra sturdy that you just don’t want to make use of a case with, you must take into account the iPhone Air. As I stated in my iPhone Air review, I unexpectedly dropped our overview unit—the display survived unscathed, and there have been solely very minor scuffs to the corners of the titanium body.

iPhone17Proとの生活。今日の学びは3つ
・望遠はPixelのほうが圧倒的に強い
・約12時間割とハードに使ってもバッテリーは35percentは持つ
・アルミフレーム落とすと即凹む！ケースは必須
です！今泣いてる pic.twitter.com/y4FWIYwYOJ

— 翁（おきな） (@okinalog) September 20, 2025

Watch out for AI-generated images and movies

It additionally pains me to need to say this, however you additionally shouldn’t blindly settle for all the things you see on-line. With right now’s powerful generative AI photo and video creation tools, it’s more durable than ever to know what’s and isn’t real or if any footage has been modified.

Who might be sure whether or not the photographs beneath really depict an actual, broken iPhone 17 Professional (even one destroyed on goal) or not?

The aluminum has uh…gotten worse pic.twitter.com/d4BnoSq57D

— Dongle (@DongleBookPro) September 20, 2025

And even when the above photographs are actual, intrepid customers have clearly taken the initiative to make use of generative AI to make convincing photographs primarily based on them, just like the “photograph” beneath, which reveals the iPhone 17 Professional with duct tape to cowl up its scratches and cracks.