Apple iPhone 17 Buyers Beware: These Colors Scratch The Easiest

September 19, 2025

Apple’s iPhone 17 hit store shelves worldwide on Friday, from New York to London to Beijing. The buzz around Apple’s latest handset prompted Goldman to brief clients earlier this week that lead times suggest “strong demand.” However, less than a day into the launch in China, and perhaps serving as a warning sign for U.S. consumers, buyers are already complaining on social media platforms that the new iPhones are scratching easily.

Bloomberg reports that a flood of social media activity in China shows shoppers are already disappointed with the iPhone 17, with many complaining about scratches, particularly on the deep blue Pro and Pro Max models. The backlash erupted just hours after the new handsets hit stores.

The deep blue variants of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max exhibited scuffs and scratches after just a few hours of being on display, Bloomberg News found from visits to Apple’s Hong Kong and Shanghai stores. It’s the U.S. company’s first major hardware redesign in years, returning to an aluminum shell and featuring what Apple had touted as a more scratch-resistant finish on the back. -BBG

The defect, if it can be called that, went viral on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, garnering over 40 million views so far. It remains unclear how the scratching issue will be addressed, but the bad press on launch day is already creating terrible optics for CEO Tim Cook.

Ouch 👀

iPhone 17 Pro scratch test https://t.co/qKsGgdqEQw pic.twitter.com/s5hrWJOJt7

— Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) September 18, 2025

Demo unit iPhone 17 Pro scratches on day 1… (it’s not even 24 hours yet)

Use a case immediately if you don’t wait to experience this kind of issue. I’m very disappointed with the quality here pic.twitter.com/zRjIQrl3zA

— Bradley (@VerdeSelvans) September 19, 2025

Can’t believe the iPhone 17 Pro demo units in stores are already scratched up. Didn’t take long at all. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/0qxSD25lit

— Safari✈️ (@update4weekly) September 18, 2025

The scratch controversy risks overshadowing the strong lead times highlighted in a note earlier this week by a team of Goldman analysts led by Michael Ng. The analysts said new lead-time data on iPhone 17 models shows “strong demand signals from pre-order trends.”