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

If Steve Jobs have been nonetheless alive, he would have advised shoppers complaining about scratching on the aluminum and glass designs of the brand new iPhone Air and iPhone 17 Execs, “There isn’t any scratching challenge. Keep tuned.”

Simply as rapidly as shoppers acquired their fingers 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 items 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 isn’t any reception challenge. Keep tuned,” following the launch of the iPhone 4 when shoppers discovered that gripping the cellphone in a sure manner that coated the antenna bands constructed into the chrome 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 challenge is exaggerated with out correct context. Social media customers are extra incentivized to perpetuate an uninformed narrative to maintain the viral practice working. Observe-ups and training on why one thing could also be taking place 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 if you happen to don’t wait to expertise this type of challenge. 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 injury to the aluminum frames, significantly across the iPhone 17 Execs’ large rectangular digital camera “plateau” or to the glass bottom. The scratches are most outstanding on the brand new Cosmic Orange and Deep Blue colorways, which, after injury, reveal the silver aluminum beneath.

Cannot consider the iPhone 17 Professional demo items 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 state of affairs is all of the extra ironic contemplating Apple truly claims all the iPhone lineup this 12 months 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 it’s possible you’ll not need to hear. Whereas I can’t rule out that Apple might 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 means of a course of known as anodization, which is an electrochemical course of that not solely strengthens the steel but additionally 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 system is dyed utilizing the method.

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

Want proof? Return and have a look at all of the outdated, 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 every day put on and tear. It’s completely regular. (I believe the “battle-scarred” look even provides character to the gadgets, displaying they’ve been used and beloved. Think about if all the pieces in Star Wars was pristine; it’d look faux.)

Apple Retailer MagSafe stands in charge? Mud, not scratches?

However, however, the iPhone 17 Execs have been displaying injury mere minutes and hours after shops stocked them. I hate to be Captain Apparent, however once you’ve acquired a whole lot, if not 1000’s, of individuals actually fondling the gadgets nonstop and never being light with them as they slap them again onto the MagSafe retail stands, seen injury is certain to occur at a sooner charge.

I believe the difficulty right here is that the MagSafe stands in Apple Shops have a steel ring on high, which is straightforward to scrape when lifting the cellphone off. And over time this steel 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 it’s possible you’ll know because the man who does cellphone sturdiness checks by placing them by means of torture trials like bending, scratching, and even burning them, says in his latest video that the scratches could possibly be extra short-term than prompt 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 utterly rub off. Apart from the final 1% of harm 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:

It’s possible you’ll 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. The truth is, these will not be scratches in any respect however merely materials deposits from the aluminium MagSafe pucks rubbing… pic.twitter.com/VlZUfOShH4

— AppleLeaker (@LeakerApple) September 21, 2025

“The truth is, these will not be 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 depart behind marks. These marks might be wiped away with a micro fibre fabric, generally requiring cleansing alcohol.”

Aluminum is a softer steel

And what about how simply dentable the iPhone 17 Execs are? To not be a sensible man and let you know to return to highschool chemistry, however aluminum is a softer steel than the titanium used within the iPhone Air (and iPhone 15 Execs and 16 Execs) or the chrome steel used within the iPhone X by means of the iPhone 14 Execs. So, in fact, dents are going to be seen if you happen to drop it. Use a case if you happen to’re actually fearful about injury. If you’d like one thing extra sturdy that you just don’t want to make use of a case with, you need to take into account the iPhone Air. As I mentioned in my iPhone Air review, I unexpectedly dropped our evaluate unit—the display screen 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 photographs and movies

It additionally pains me to must say this, however you additionally shouldn’t blindly settle for all the pieces you see on-line. With right now’s powerful generative AI photo and video creation tools, it’s tougher 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 under truly depict an actual, broken iPhone 17 Professional (even one destroyed on objective) 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 based mostly on them, just like the “picture” under, which exhibits the iPhone 17 Professional with duct tape to cowl up its scratches and cracks.