Apple faced complaints about scratches on the new iPhone 17 Pro on the first day of sales
The stakes are high for Apple with the release of the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air lineup: Wall Street expects good sales

Some customers who came to pick up the new iPhone 17, 17 Pro and Air on the first day of sales on Sept. 19 noticed scratches on showcase samples of some models. The problems were particularly noticeable on the blue-colored iPhone 17 Pro and the slim black-colored iPhone Air. Sales of the new smartphones will be important for Apple, especially in China, where customers were the first to report scratches: the company's market share there has dropped to about 12%. Apple shares were up more than 3% on Friday.
Details
Customers noticed scratches on the cases of some of the new iPhones in stores from Hong Kong to London and New York, Bloomberg writes. In particular, scuffs were affected by dark blue versions of the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, and this after only a few hours in the showcase. Agency correspondents noticed these problems when visiting stores in Hong Kong, Shanghai and London.
In addition, the new slim smartphone iPhone Air in black color was prone to scratches, Bloomberg reports. Also on Pro smartphones a noticeable round mark can leave a magnetic wireless charging MagSafe, the agency added. The first photos of scratched iPhones were published in social networks by users in China.
Apple did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment. Shares of the company on the first day of sales of new iPhones at the auction in New York were up 3.4% at the moment. However, compared to the beginning of 2025, they are now 1.8% cheaper.
What's wrong with Apple's enclosures
In the iPhone 17 lineup, Apple for the first time in recent years noticeably changed the design of smartphones. In particular, the iPhone 17 Pro received a body made of aluminum with an insert on the back of the Ceramic Shield - so the company calls the protective coating, which was previously used only on screens. Apple claimed that the new design increases the durability of the devices and their resistance to damage.
Aluminum is a softer and more warp-prone metal than stainless steel and titanium, which Apple used in previous Pro-series smartphones. And the defects are particularly noticeable on darker models, Bloomberg noted. The iPhone 17 Pro is available in three colors, and blue is the darkest of them. At the same time, the black version, customary for Pro-models, this time Apple does not offer.
This isn't the first time that problems with the iPhone have been reported on the first day of sales. For example, users have complained in the past that the glossy black finish of the iPhone 7 scratches easily. Before that, there was a problem with the iPhone 6's bendable thin case. And before that, the antenna on the iPhone 4 stopped working if the smartphone was held in a certain way, Bloomberg recalled.
Context
Despite user concerns about scratches, the overall launch of the iPhone 17 lineup has been a success for Apple, which is betting on smartphones in an effort to maintain growth in a difficult period amid lagging artificial intelligence, Bloomberg notes.
So, last week, CCS Insight analyst Ben Wood said that after premiering strong products, Apple now needs to show results specifically in the field of AI, writes CNBC. "Apple has a lot of catching up to do in AI, but right now I think it has enough time to pull it off in the near term," the analyst said.
The stakes for Apple are high now: Wall Street has high expectations for the company's sales during the holiday period (before Christmas), Bloomberg writes. It will be important for the company how the devices will be received in China: there, demand for iPhones fell by 6% in the final weeks before the presentation, which was a bigger drop than usually happens in this period, the agency believes.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor