iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Super Hard Anti-Reflective Coating That Resists Scratches

Apple may introduce a new super hard anti-reflective coating that would better resist scratches on its future iPhone 17 series of smartphones, according to a new rumor from Instant Digital.

In a post on Weibo, the leaker suggested that the coating could mean that many users will no longer need to use a screen protector.

Apple has spent billions in Japan on coating equipment, which has now been handed over to our country's supply chain, but the iPhone 16 series will not benefit from this. The outer glass of the iPhone 17 series will all have a super-hard AR layer. 'Super-hard' means that the iPhone 17 series will be more scratch and scrape resistant than you can imagine. It seems that phones might no longer need screen protectors.


Apple already using "Ceramic Shield" for the iPhone which was created in partnership with Corning Glass. When dropped Ceramic Shield significantly reduces the likelihood of your screen cracking upon impact, without compromising on display clarity or touch sensitivity.

Notably, Corning recently unveiled "Gorilla Armor", which is being used on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. In Corning's tests, Gorilla Armor showed no visible scratches and demonstrated over four times more scratch resistance than competitive aluminosilicate cover glasses. It's possible that Apple plans to introduce Gorilla Armor or a variation of it with the iPhone 17.

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