One of the new hardware features Apple introduced to the iPhone 12 is a new glass cover that they developed with Corning that they’re calling Ceramic Shield. The company claims that this is more durable than previous iPhones. This sounds like marketing speak, but it turns out that they were right.
During a durability test conducted by MobileReviewsEh, the new Ceramic Shield was put to the test and sure enough, it seems that Apple was right about it being more durable than its predecessors. One of the tests involved applying a certain amount of force to the display of the iPhone, where it managed to withstand about 442 newtons of force before cracking.
This is versus the iPhone 11 which only withstood about 352 newtons of force, so the increase of about 100 newtons of force is pretty impressive. When it came to testing the scratch-resistance of the display, they found that for the most part, it withstood your everyday objects like coins and keys. It also stood against rocks and even a box cutter.
The video then put the iPhone 12 through the Mohs hardness test where it began to show slight scratches at a level 7, while at level 8 it began to show significant damage. Once again, this is an improvement over its predecessor which started to show signs of scratching at level 6. While it appears that the iPhone 12’s Ceramic Shield is certain as advertised, the cost of repair is still a good enough reason to still buy a protective case and screen protector.