So this is a scary piece of news for iPhone 3GS owners. It seems that the nifty oleophobic coating over the iPhone screen which retards fingerprints is in some cases starting to wear off. The picture we have is from a a user who plays a game called “Flick Fishing” a lot, which is a possible explanation for the centralized damage to the screen. Still, this is potentially very bad for Apple, consumers, or both.
If the oleophobic coating is indeed wearing out from normal use, it would be best and make the most sense if the warranty covered this not as damage from wear and tear, but as a flaw in the manufacturing of the iPhone itself. iPhone users should across the board be able to treat their screens in the same way. 3G users certainly do not have to worry about wearing out a special coating.
Knowing Apple, while they probably will not like this argument, enough of a push at tech support should get them to replace the phone should you incur this problem. Additionally, an iPhone 3GS take two will presumably be out to correct this issue.
