Galaxy S24 Ultra display coatings are wearing down prematurely, and it just looks gross

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is an excellent Android flagship, though its successor is right around the corner. An underrated feature of the Galaxy S24 Ultra was the latest Corning Gorilla Armor glass on the display, which greatly reduced reflectance and enhanced display readability. However, all doesn’t seem well with the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display, as several users have reported that the glare-free glass on the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display hasn’t aged well.

YouTuber Zaryab Khan highlighted on X how their Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display coating has aged over the year. In a nutshell, it doesn’t look good.

Right away, we can see that the display has all sorts of smudges and marks. Repeated finger swipes seem to have worn down the oleophobic coating on the device to the point that the phone’s display has a dirty, oily look to it. One can also see scratches on the device, though the user clarifies that these are not scratches but are “flushed in with the coating.”

User Piyush Baid on X (formerly known as Twitter) also mentioned that their device’s display coating has worn out. This gives the device a dirty look that isn’t easy to wipe or clean off.

User Rajan Thakur also had a similar experience. They showed off a Galaxy S24 Ultra whose oleophobic coating had worn down in the display regions where they swiped a lot.

Analyst Max Weinbach also affirmed a similar experience.

So what is happening here? The most plausible event here is that the oleophobic coating on the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display has worn out within a year of release. The coating does wear out over time across all smartphones, but we don’t usually hear reports of an accelerated timeline of under a year. The pseudo-scratches are also confusing, as it seems the oleophobic coating has been affected in a scratch-like manner without seemingly affecting the actual display. It’s unclear how this deterioration affects the anti-reflective properties of the display, but it’s clear that the dirty, oily look tarnishes an otherwise excellent and class-leading display experience.

While these are a few reports, many other users have mentioned that their Galaxy S24 Ultra units have aged significantly better than this. While the issue doesn’t exist for most people, the fact that it does for a bunch of people is not acceptable for a top-tier flagship that costs over a thousand dollars.

We’ve contacted Samsung for comments on the matter. We’ll keep you informed when we learn more.

How has your Galaxy S24 Ultra’s display held up so far? Has the oleophobic coating on it deteriorated? Let us know your experience in the comments below!