Smartphone glass is finally getting more scratch-resistant, as Galaxy S24 Ultra proves [Video]

Ben Schoon | Jan 30 2024 - 11:23 am PT

Smartphone glass is reasonably durable, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had advancements in scratch resistance. With Corning Gorilla Armor on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, though, it seems smartphone glass is finally getting a real upgrade.

Corning has been the main provider of the glass on smartphones for a long time, with the company’s “Gorilla Glass” series generally touting stronger scratch and shatter resistance compared to normal glass. It’s never been unbreakable or unscratchable, but it has been getting more durable over time. For a while, though, Corning was mainly focusing on drop resistance to prevent a screen from shattering on impact.

The new Corning Gorilla Armor on the Galaxy S24 Ultra was touted as being a big upgrade in scratch resistance, as well as delivering an anti-reflective costing that’s genuinely quite impressive. But is that scratch resistance really any better? Apparently, yes!

In a new video, JerryRigEverything puts the Galaxy S24 Ultra through one of the channel’s usual torture tests, which includes a scratch test on the display. As viewers of the channel will know, smart glass typical scratches at a level 6 on the Moh’s hardness scale, with “deeper grooves at level 7.” But, for the first time, Gorilla Armor on the Galaxy S24 Ultra moves up a notch.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn’t show real scratches at level 6, rather only some small marks that, under a microscope, appear to just be material transfer from the pick. Scratches then appear at level 7, but they’re not that bad. Level 8 is where deeper grooves appear in the glass.

It’s a stunning improvement on Corning’s part, to say the least, and should result in meaningfully better scratch resistance on the Galaxy S24 Ultra and any other devices that end up using Gorilla Armor. Anecdotally, my Galaxy S24 Ultra review unit has yet to be scratched, though Max Weinbach, of course, already managed to scratch his.

Through the rest of the test, seen below, the Galaxy S24 Ultra holds up unsurprisingly well. There’s not a major improvement to durability from the titanium frame, but it’s certainly very strong.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is available for pre-order now – January 30 is the final day of pre-orders – starting at $799. Pre-orders come with doubled storage, boosted trade-ins up to $750, and bonus credit up to $150. Best Buy is also handing out up to a $150 gift card with your purchase.

You can get an additional $50 off your purchase on Samsung.com using our exclusive links above.