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Screen Protectors Without AR Coating Cancel Out iPhone 17's Anti-Reflective Display

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The Ceramic Shield 2 material that Apple uses for the iPhone 17 display includes an anti-reflective coating that's designed to cut down on glare. It's a coating that prior-generation iPhone models didn't have, and it can make a difference in bright lighting conditions.

iphone 17 ceramic shield
If you're someone who likes to use a screen protector with your iPhone, you might be nullifying the anti-reflective property of the ‌iPhone 17‌ display, based on testing done by Astropad.

Compared to the ‌iPhone 17‌, Astropad found that the anti-reflective coating reduces reflections by approximately 50 percent when compared to the iPhone 16, but applying a screen protector without an anti-reflective coating of its own makes the anti-reflective Ceramic Shield 2 coating less effective. According to Astropad, this is because AR coatings are created for direct contact with air, and covering them with an extra layer of material cancels the effect.

Astropad did screen protector testing because it sells Fresh Coat, a screen protector with an anti-reflective coating, and it is promoting Fresh Coat through its testing and report. Astropad says that Fresh Coat and other screen protectors with an anti-reflective coating can replace or even outperform the anti-reflective properties of the ‌iPhone 17‌'s display.

Fresh Coat by Astropad enhances AR clarity on any iPhone, creating a surface nearly 4x less reflective than the display on an iPhone 16 and 2x less reflective than iPhone 17's Ceramic Shield 2.

Astropad did controlled testing with a light meter, and full testing results can be found on the Astropad website.

Related Roundup: iPhone 17
Buyer's Guide: iPhone 17 (Neutral)
Related Forum: iPhone

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Top Rated Comments

MacUserFella Avatar
MacUserFella
8 months ago
Doesn’t take a genius to figure this out
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hajj.david Avatar
Hajj.david
8 months ago
Another good reason to never use a case/screen protector
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
K
kenta_
8 months ago
This is an ad designed to look like an actual article. LOL

Honestly, the factory AR isn’t that great compared to other phones on the market. Adding a screen protector didn’t make it any better or worse I found.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bLackjackj Avatar
bLackjackj
8 months ago

I do have a case because I have occasionally dropped and cracked screens. But no screen protector is going to do anything when glass plus film meets pavement
Absolute nonsense.

I’ve seen phones all the time at work with broken glass shields, where the phone has been dropped and only the shield breaks and NOT the actual phone glass.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vbctv Avatar
vbctv
8 months ago
This is the first year I didn't use a screen protector on the Air. And I put it in my pocket (without anything else) and so far the screen is still pristine, not micro scratches yet. So CS2 might be good after-all. I was already starting to feel like screen protectors were becoming a huge waste of money.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G
Gregintosh
8 months ago

Absolute nonsense.

I’ve seen phones all the time at work with broken glass shields, where the phone has been dropped and only the shield breaks and NOT the actual phone glass.

I have to agree. My wife is a perfect example of this. I have to swap out her cracked screen protectors at least 6 times a year. Some took pretty nasty drops. Every time - the screen underneath has been perfect (knock on wood).
I see this logic a lot. And on the surface it makes sense.

But here’s the thing: screen protectors are more brittle and lower quality glass than what Apple uses on its screens. Especially Ceramic Shield 2.

In other words, you may drop your phone and break the screen protector only and think “I’m glad I had this on!”, then proceed to buy a new screen protector.

But what you don’t realize is if you had the same drop without the screen protector, the original screen wouldn’t have broken because its higher quality and more durable than the protector ever was.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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