What is #scratchgate? iPhone 17 Pro, Pro Max go viral for THIS reason; Apple faces backlash

Apple's much-awaited iPhone 17 launch at the 'Awe Dropping' event, and its release for sale on September 19, turned heads for many reasons, but its design was the strangest reason by far.

For the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, Apple has chosen to return to using aluminium for the body, which they say helps with heat dissipation. However, the new phones also have users heating up over how easily it gets scratched.

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This has led to #scratchgate trending on social media, where netizens vent out their frustration at how easily the phone gets scratched without a back cover.

The scratches quickly revealed the silver-coloured aluminium body underneath, with some users complaining that scratches appeared for even trivial reasons, like putting the phone in a jeans pocket with keys in them.

According to YouTuber JerryRigEverything, who tests phones' durability with a variety of bizarre tests, the Pro and Pro Max were made of an anodised aluminium unibody, which rates 9 out of 10 on the Mohs hardness scale.

However, the various edges around the phones and their cameras could not be anodised properly, which Apple chose not to modify further, perhaps for aesthetic reasons. This, he suggests, is the reason behind #scratchgate.

"@Apple sorry but #Scratchgate is real and very disappointing," a user wrote on X, with a video of very visible scratches on the iPhone 17 Pro, which he compares to the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

"The aluminum has uh … gotten worse," another user wrote, offering horrifying images of a badly scratched iPhone 17 Pro—to the point its colour wears off.

"More scratchy, less likely to break your phone," a Redditor wrote, highlighting how the phone was still durable.