- Hands-on tests confirm iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max scratching issues
- The main weak spots are around the edge of the camera bar
- If you’re buying one of these phones, it might be wise to pick up a case
Reports of the new iPhone 17 models being rather prone to scratching are continuing to appear, and we may now have more clarity over the causes of ‘scratchgate’ – and what you can expect if you pick up one of the recently unveiled Apple flagships for 2025.
The team at iFixit carried out a teardown of the iPhone 17 Pro with their usual thoroughness, finding that there is a vulnerability for scratches right around the raised camera bar at the back (which Apple calls the camera ‘plateau’).
We know the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max have switched to aluminum rather than titanium this year, and that the outer casing is anodized: that is, protected with an extra layer, which is also colored. It’s this layer that is vulnerable to scratching, based on the tests and microscopic analysis carried out by iFixit.
Using a scratcher that’s equivalent to a copper penny, the team was able to tear away the anodized layer at the edges of the camera bump. Crucially, it’s at these spots that the extra layer is most brittle, and not as tightly adhered to the underlying metal.
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On flat parts of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, this spalling is less of a problem, because the anodized layer and the underlying metal layer deform together – so the bare metal underneath isn’t revealed. Around the camera bump, it is.
This is backed up by a separate video from well-known YouTuber Zack Nelson, aka JerryRigEverything. In this video, further scratch tests and peeks through a microscope reveal that it is indeed the edges of the camera plateau that are the most vulnerable. Some hard scratches with a coin are enough to reveal the underlying aluminum.
By the way, you won’t see this on the standard iPhone 17 or on the iPhone Air: not only are these handsets protected by ceramic glass on the back, they don’t have the sharply raised camera bump of the more expensive models.
It’s difficult to see how Apple can fix this, at least before the iPhone 18 comes out – it’s built into the design. If you’re picking up an iPhone 17 Pro or an iPhone 17 Pro Max, it might be a good idea to be very careful with it, or invest in a case.
