The Moto Z2 Force Edition's "unbreakable" screen can be scratched by a fingernail

In this day and age, if you look up the definition of absolute horror, you will find “Dropping your smartphone on hard pavement” listed somewhere around “No Wi-Fi” and “Low battery”. Indeed, our phones may be beautiful glass-and-metal pieces of industrial design, but they are so, so fragile... and so, so expensive to fix or replace!

Motorola sought to end the plight of serial phone droppers with last year's Moto Z Force — the shatter-proof phone! And, indeed, multiple drop and torture tests showed that the handset just does not break. It dents, sure, it bends, definitely, the screen gets deformed as it's plastic, but doesn't shatter, unless you really, really, really try.

This year, the Moto Z2 Force Edition is the company's only flagship and it is, again, shatter-proof, toting Motorola's latest generation of the ShatterShield display. But as much as it is shatter-proof, it looks like it's extremely easy to scratch.

The fine folks over at Android Police posted about their Moto Z2 Force Edition phones not looking as shiny as they used to just a couple of days ago. Carried in pockets, and spending their time mostly on desks (as smartphones usually do), the handsets still magically picked up some nasty scrapes on the display. In fact, the article reports, that one can put a nice dent in the display with just a fingernail and some pressure.

See, the issue that the ShatterProof display isn't made of glass, but is, in fact, plastic. And while last year's Moto Z Force was reported as being more prone to scratches, it was still a fair tradeoff, considering its ability to survive falls. But the material used on the Moto Z2 Force Edition seems to be much, much softer and easier to damage, which is not cool for a flagship-grade device.

Motorola's official statement on the matter is that “scratches are subjective” and use of screen protectors is still encouraged by the company. It continues to claim that this year's ShatterShield display is just as durable as last year's design and that reviewers received early production units, while the devices that will go out to customers are actually improved in this aspect. Eh, OK.