Those in Cupertino may have backed out on an ideal feature for the iPhone 17 Pro’s display, a plan leaked by Instant Digital via Weibo. The new anti-reflective coating for the screen, which would withstand even scratches, will not be present in Apple’s new flagship device, according to a source close to MacRumors.
The Ceramic Shield will still be present on the iPhone 17 Pro. Will it improve on the anti-reflective coating?
This layer would be used for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models, the Ceramic Shield would remain part of the regular iPhone 17 and probably the iPhone 17 Air. The problem, it is indicated, is related to the extension of the “screen coating process”, so it is no longer planned for this generation of iPhone 17 Pro.
The Samsung Galaxy Ultra will continue to beat the iPhone in this technology this year.
Outdoors, the conditions of an iPhone are more complicated than those of the Samsung device, especially in bright sunlight or other conditions. Anti-reflective displays would be vastly improved on the iPhone compared to what’s available today. The only way Apple could make room for improvement without the anti-reflective coating would be to improve display panels that can offer a higher peak nit count, since the iPhone 16 Pro currently reaches up to 2,000 nits. In HDR, it reaches up to 1,600 nits, and in normal mode, up to 1,000 nits.
If Apple considers that it has been delayed, it will now be able to focus its approach on this new layer for the next generation of iPhone, which will be the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. Comparisons, once the devices are made official in September, will not be long in coming, and perhaps in this section it may now lose against the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and very little compared to the S25 Edge that will be launched to the public in a few weeks .
Is there someone at fault within Apple, or is it a problem with manufacturers and assembly partners? We’ll be paying closer attention to any further information regarding iPhone 17 specifications. We’re just five months away from its official debut and a possible event, which we’ll start discussing in more depth as soon as the first official event of the year, WWDC 2025, is over.
