Apple's iPhone 17 tipped for a new AR coating with anti-scratch properties

The iPhone has been around for a good long while now and since its introduction in 2007 Apple has been able to improve its display in all manner of ways. Those displays are bigger and brighter than ever, and dropping an iPhone doesn't necessarily mean that it will break as was once the case. However, scratching said iPhone seems to be an increasingly common problem and now there's a suggestion that Apple is working on a way to improve matters.

That's according to a report that claims Apple is readying a new type of anti-reflective coating that will make it harder to scratch an iPhone 17 or iPhone 17 Pro model, although the source of that report isn't Apple itself. The report comes via a post on the Chinese social network Weibo by the leaker Instant Digital, a leaker with a mixed track record albeit a relatively strong one in terms of iPhone predictions.

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According to the leaker Apple has spent a small fortune on new coating equipment in Japan which has now been handed over to the supply chain companies in China. The new technology comes too late for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models, the leaker claims, which means that we will have to wait for the 2025 iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro before we can take it for a spin.

The leak continues, saying that the iPhone 17 series will have a super-hard anti-reflective layer that will make the family of devices more scratch-resistant than people might expect. What's more, they go on to add that people won't need a screen protector if they have one of these new iPhones.

That will no doubt be big news not only for iPhone buyers but also for the companies that make those screen protectors. However, it remains to be seen just how tough this new AR layer actually is and whether it can help prevent some of the scratches that have plagued recent iPhones. While the newer models are less likely to break than older models, some have found their displays to be softer and as a result, easier to scratch just by placing them in an empty pocket.

All eyes will now be on Apple and the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro launch. If Apple follows the usual release cadence we can expect that to happen in or around September of next year, but before that we have the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro later this year.