Oliver Haslam·

The iPhone 17 Could Be Harder To Scratch Thanks To A New AR Coating

If you’ve ever accidentally scratched your iPhone or, more likely, found a scratch and had no idea where it came from, you aren’t alone.

Thankfully, Apple is reportedly working on finding a solution and it could debut with the iPhone 17.

That’s according to a new report by the Instant Digital account on Weibop, an account that has previously proven accurate with some of the information it’s shared ahead of iPhone announcements. According to that report, Apple is working on a new anti-reflective coating that will be tougher, thus helping prevent the iPhone from being scratched so easily.

Apple spent billions on coating equipment in Japan, which has been handed over to China’s supply chain, but the iPhone 16 series can’t keep up. The outer glass of the iPhone 17 series will be made into a super-hard [anti-reflective] layer. It can be said that the iPhone 17 series will be more scratch-resistant than you think.

The post goes on to suggest that the coating could be so tough that buyers of the iPhone 17 won’t need to also buy a screen protector, something that seems unlikely but we’re hoping to be proven wrong.

Apple’s current iPhones use a Ceramic Shield feature that is supposed to make iPhones tougher, but while it does help to prevent cracks it has so far done nothing to help prevent scratches in our experience.

Apple is likely to announce the iPhone 17 series of devices in or around September of 2025.

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