I actually scratched my iPhone 8 a few weeks ago (using the light on my phone while working under my car...my fault). I've never scratched an iPhone (or used a screen protector) since the 4S.

FWIW, I tried to use my iPhone X without a screen protector but the glass was getting scratched all to hell. I had no worries about it cracking or anything, but it seems to have been a common problem:

https://gizmodo.com/iphone-x-damage-report-two-months-later-...

What are you using it for, driving nails? I had many smartphones in over a decade and never a single scratch on a screen, without using any screen protector.

The X was just bad for tiny scratches. Mine had a bunch and it was stored in my pocket without anything else in the pocket to scratch it. It was the only phone I had that scratched like this.

This seems like the inevitable outcome of the equation of gigantic phones and key fobs while wearing skinny jeans.

yeah, if you put your phone in a pocket together with you key fob then that's not so different from using it to drive nails :) Fortunately, even skinny jeans usually have more than one pocket.

Unfortunately the iPhone 11 Pro has a softer screen, I had mine accumulating permanent scratches within just a few days which surprised me as every other phone I’ve owned had no issues without a screen protector.

So iPhone 11 Pro max become the first phone I had to buy a screen protector for, really disappointing in such an expensive phone.

Do you keep it inside a purse or in a pocket with keys?

I got mine on launch and have zero scratches. I've even zoned out at work and started writing on the screen with a pen a few times, but it's still perfectly smooth. I grabbed a piece of metal and started scratching at my screen halfway through this post just to double check, and it's still fine.

Do scratches really matter anymore? The screens now get so bright I don’t see them unless I’m really looking for them. Cracks are the far bigger problem.

Agreed. If I turn the screen off and tilt my phone I can see hairline scratches but when its on I can't see anything so who cares.

That's what they told me about my Apple Watch, and it is super scratched after only 6 months.

Glass screens are reasonably resistant to scratching, but they're very prone to shattering. A tempered glass screen protector acts like a crumple zone, dissipating energy and spreading shock loads that would otherwise shatter the underlying screen.

earlier version of gorilla glass used to be very hard to scratch but easy to shatter, now, the glass is easy to scratch but hard to shatter. I forget the actual references, but from corning spokeperson, they focus more on shattering for recent version