Your iPhone 17 screen protector could be doing more harm than good

When any of us buy a new phone, one of the first things we'll do is put a screen protector on the front. It stands to reason – most people would be lost without their phones these days, and replacing the front glass is often quite an expensive repair.

But did you know that throwing a screen protector on top could actually be undoing a cool feature of the iPhone 17? According to 9to5Mac, that's exactly what's happening, with the Ceramic Shield 2 not playing well with some protectors.

That's all because of the anti-reflective nature of the display. According to the data in that report – which is worth taking with a small pinch of salt, as the data is recorded by a brand which produces an anti-reflective screen protector and, therefore, isn't exactly free of bias – suggests that the Ceramic Shield 2 equipped iPhone 17 Pro is almost twice as good at dealing with reflections as the prior iPhone 16 Pro.

When that iPhone 17 Pro model was equipped with a standard glass screen protector, the ant-reflective properties actually got worse than the older handset. The brand then goes on to recommend its own screen protector which performs even better in their testing – though, again, take that finding with a pinch of salt.

Still, even without the self-promotion laced into the data, it presents some interesting findings. That adding a non-descript screen protector to the front of your iPhone 17 could actually make the anti-reflective properties worse than its predecessor is quite alarming.

Of course, with the added hardness of the Ceramic Shield technology, there's also an argument to be made for going sans-protection altogether. The brand suggest three times better scratch resistance is on offer, which might be enough to tempt you away from adding another layer.