The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra seemingly scratches more easily than its predecessor

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

A durability test has revealed that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's Corning Gorilla Armor 2 screen might scratch more easily than first thought
This could, however, mean that the phone is less likely to shatter when dropped
These results are at odds with Corning's claims

The move to Corning Gorilla Armor 2 protection is supposedly one of the biggest upgrades for the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, with the new material sounding, on paper, like a big improvement on the original Gorilla Armor used by the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. However, a new durability test suggests the reality might be a bit more complicated than that.

JerryRigEverything (via Phone Arena) has released a video testing the durability of the Galaxy S25 Ultra in various ways, and one interesting thing they found was that the phone's screen started getting scratched at level six of the Mohs scale of hardness (a system used to measure scratch resistance).

That’s in line with a lot of other high-end phones, but it’s a step down from the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which in the same test didn’t start getting scratches until level seven. So, in other words, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s screen is seemingly easier to scratch than its predecessor’s.

A shatter-resistant compromise

So, what’s going on here? While JerryRigEverything doesn’t have a definitive answer, they posit that perhaps the glass was too brittle on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. After all, increasing scratch resistance will typically mean making the glass harder, which can also make it more likely to shatter when dropped.

So, Corning and Samsung might have decided that this is a better balance – sacrificing some scratch resistance for improved drop resistance.

That said, while Corning itself states that drop resistance has been improved compared to the original Gorilla Armor, it also says that “Gorilla Armor 2 maintained its exceptional scratch resistance.”

So, it’s possible that, for whatever reason, JerryRigEverything’s results will prove to be outliers. But even if the glass on the Galaxy S25 Ultra really is more prone to scratching, we’d argue it’s probably a fair trade if that means it’s less likely to smash.

What do you value more in a smartphone: strong scratch resistance or strong drop resistance? Let us know in the comments.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.