Color Scratching Off Gold & Grey Phones?

5er driver · Sep 29, 2013

Has anyone seen or heard of the color scratching off the bands that surround the gold & grey phones as was reported with the black iPhone 5 when it came out?
I'm very close to deciding on the purchase of a 5S but don't want to drop $849 on a piece of equipment that will look very used or abused within a couple of weeks.
I don't intend on buying a case for it. If the grey phone had a naked aluminum or stainless steel band I would have ordered one already.

Sent from my iPhone 4S or iPad 3rd gen, whichever I happened to have in my hands at the time, using iPF.net

Col.bris · Sep 29, 2013

The phones have just been released so no information sorry

And wal · Sep 29, 2013

Well , I've had mine 9 days now since launch ( gold 64 5s) and taken it in & out of an aftermarket case a few times to clean the camera lens ( & show off

!)
I can't say that I've noticed any rubbing or wear around any of the metalwork as yet .

Some previous tests show the gold version to be more resilient towards everyday usage than the black or space grey .

pepelino224 · Sep 29, 2013

Gold one is anodized so i'm not sure about it but Space Gray is non anodized aluminum so it wont scratch at all, i have mine since release day and its in perfect condition.

5er driver · Sep 30, 2013

Thanks, peplino. Judging from the pictures on the Apple site, the band on the grey phone looks darker than the silver colored band that appears to be naked aluminum on the white phone. This leads me to believe that the band on the grey phone is either anodized, powder coated, or a darker aluminum alloy (or some other metal). I'm just concerned about color rubbing off the band. My 4S with a naked aluminum band has been in a case since I bought it when the phone first became available. The case has rubbed shiny areas onto the originally dulled aluminum all around it. Missing color on a band would not only be very unsightly for the original owner but would also really hurt resale/trade in value.

Sent from my iPhone 4S or iPad 3rd gen, whichever I happened to have in my hands at the time, using iPF.net

DaveM · Sep 30, 2013

If it's a hard anodization it shouldn't make any difference between colors. It's nearly as hard as a diamond.

Neubeehunhun · Oct 5, 2013

Short answer is, it does not scratch that easily, but if you want to retain the resale value, slap on a screen protector and wrap it inside a case.

I have been naked with my gold 5s for a week now. There's no scratch any where on the phone, yet.

spencerdl · Dec 23, 2013

I've had my Gold 5s since 12/4 and no scratches yet ( I treat my 5s like a newborn baby...SMILE), but I always have a case on it when I go outside. Only on occasions when I'm home do I go naked