iPhone 17 Professional faces “Scratchgate” as early consumers report harm

Simply days after Apple launched its newest flagship handsets, the iPhone 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max, the corporate is going through excessive criticism from early customers. A rising wave of complaints from consumers,  consumers heading to choose up the brand new Professional iPhones, and tech reviewers who’re placing the units by means of their paces suggests the premium fashions could also be unusually susceptible to scratches and scuffs. The controversy has already earned the nickname “Scratchgate.”

A sturdiness take a look at from Zack Nelson of the favored JerryRigEverything YouTube channel reveals that the sharp, unprotected corners across the digital camera bump scratch very simply. Based on Neslon, the difficulty boils all the way down to Apple’s design change. The anodized aluminum coating on the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max “doesn’t keep on with corners very nicely,” Nelson famous. This leaves the telephones’ edges uncovered to wreck.

“For some purpose, Apple didn’t add a chamfer, fillet, or radius across the digital camera plateau, and I feel it was intentional, so it appears cooler,” the YouTuber stated. “However that call to look cool out of the field goes to plague everybody who owns this cellphone down the street,” he warned.

Nelson claimed that on a regular basis pocket contents like cash and home keys might shortly chip away on the coating, leaving seen scars on the brand new iPhones.

Nelson’s findings are additionally being echoed by customers worldwide. Based on Bloomberg, Apple Retailer demo models in cities from New York to Hong Kong confirmed scratches inside hours of being placed on show. Consumers noticed that the deep blue variants of the iPhone 17 Professional and Professional Max have been significantly liable to scratching, whereas the black iPhone Air and Apple’s assertion Cosmic Orange iPhone Professional additionally displayed seen put on.

Bloomberg additionally famous that Apple’s personal MagSafe charger leaves very seen round imprints on the again of the brand new Professional fashions.

Apple switched to a brand new aluminum shell for the Professional iPhones this yr to enhance warmth dissipation and cut back weight. Nevertheless, early proof means that the brand new construct could also be much less resilient to real-world use.

In China, certainly one of Apple’s largest markets, the backlash about scratches on the brand new iPhones is already trending on platforms like Weibo. Pictures of scratched iPhone 17 fashions are additionally flooding social media platforms like X.

For now, Apple has not formally responded to the complaints. However with consumers paying premium costs for the corporate’s Professional lineup, stress is mounting on the Cupertino firm to handle the difficulty.