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Tests show matte black iPhone 7 resists key scratches, raise questions over camera lens [Video]

While Apple has warned that the high-gloss surface of the Jet Black iPhone 7 is easily scratched, we’ve heard nothing yet about the scratch-resistance of the matte black finish. YouTuber JerryRigEverything set out to correct that by putting an iPhone through a series of torture tests.

The tests revealed a mix of good news and bad. All four surfaces tested – back, screen, Home key and camera lens – resisted scratches from both coins and keys, suggesting that the iPhone should be reasonably safe in a pocket. Not that we’d recommend conducting your own practical tests.

But scratch tests of the camera lens raised questions about Apple’s claims for the device …

Scratch-resistance is tested on the Mohs Scale, a hardness scale where minerals of increasing hardness are used to find the point at which scratching occurs. Glass, for example, scratches at level 6.

Apple’s website says that the iPhone 7 has a ‘Sapphire crystal lens cover,’ which means that it should survive up to level 9. In this test, however, it scratched deeply at level 6, suggesting that it is actually just glass. We’ve reached out to Apple for a comment, and will update with any response.

Everything else also scratched at level 6, meaning that you shouldn’t take a razor blade to your new iPhone – you know, just in case you were thinking of doing so.

Apple seems to have taken the (frankly ridiculous) ‘bendgate’ reports of the iPhone 6 to heart, the iPhone 7 withstanding a really hard attempt to bend the phone by hand, though the water-resistant material does visibly tear under extreme stress.

JerryRigEverything also has a number of iPhone repair tutorial videos, including one for an iPhone 6 screen replacement in five minutes. Check out his iPhone 7 scratch tests below.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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