智能手机是一项昂贵的购买，只需一次不幸的事件就可以将闪亮的新手机屏幕粉碎成一百万块。您必须采取一些措施来保持手机的质量和完整性！(quality and integrity)
保护壳(Cases)可保护您的手机免受跌落和碰撞，但出售屏幕保护膜(screen protector)是为了保护您的屏幕本身免受损坏。这在纸上听起来很棒，但你真的需要为你的手机安装屏幕保护膜(screen protector)，还是它们只是一种昂贵的安慰剂？
破裂的屏幕更换起来很昂贵
在过去，如果您的手机玻璃(phone glass)摔碎了，假设它没有损坏，可以在不更换屏幕的情况下更换它。然而，现代屏幕技术(screen technology)采用层压工艺(lamination process)，因此屏幕和覆盖它的玻璃之间没有间隙。这会带来更好的图像质量(image quality)，但这也意味着如果玻璃损坏或破裂，则必须更换整个屏幕。
这种集成严重增加了修理破碎手机玻璃(phone glass)的成本，这可能就是为什么你会看到这么多人带着破碎的手机四处走动的原因——修理起来太贵了。真正的问题是您的手机最终(phone end)处于这种状态的可能性有多大，要理解这一点，我们必须先谈谈现代手机玻璃(phone glass)。
智能手机玻璃令人难以置信
首先(First)要做的是：智能手机屏幕玻璃(smartphone screen glass)非常坚硬。Android手机上的康宁大猩猩玻璃或新款 iPhone 上的(Gorilla Glass)陶瓷防护玻璃(Ceramic Shield Glass)具有极强的抗冲击性和防刮性。这些玻璃非常坚硬，只有矿物质才能刮伤它们。金属，比如你口袋里的车钥匙，不太可能留下痕迹。在莫氏硬度(Mohs hardness)等级上，Gorilla Glass Victus介于 6 到 7 之间。相比之下，钢(Steel)在 4 到 4.5 之间。这意味着像石英这样的硬质矿物会对这种玻璃造成明显的划痕，但大多数常见的材料不应该在它上面留下痕迹(t mark)。
您的智能手机玻璃已经能够胜任日常使用的任务。您可能会在手机的整个生命周期中发现一些微划痕，但这些通常不会影响屏幕的感觉或屏幕上的图像外观。
制造商还对智能手机进行严格测试，以确保它们能够处理更严重的滥用行为。Linus Tech Tips参观了智能手机工厂(smartphone factory tour)，从那里显示的测试来看，普通智能手机在制造时可以承受严重的惩罚，同时仍然可以正常工作。
所以在这一点上，我们可以自信地说大多数人不需要屏幕保护膜。在某些情况下，您可能想要一个，但您应该知道您正在进入什么。
谁绝对应该使用(Should Use)屏幕保护膜(Screen Protector)
我们认为没有屏幕保护膜（或与此相关的保护壳）的手机可以开箱即用地处理日常使用，但这里的重点是“日常使用”。
如果您的工作或爱好使您的手机处于可能破坏其材料韧性的环境或靠近材料的环境中，那么您需要更多的保护。
许多人忽视了玻璃损坏的一个来源：(glass damage)海滩沙子(beach sand)或远足小径中发现的常见矿物质。如果你的手机口袋里有一些沙砾，它可能会被划伤到无法再使用的程度。
如果您从事建筑等工作或在户外活动，您可能会考虑为手机购买一个坚固耐用的外壳(ruggedized case)，而不是屏幕保护膜(screen protector)。或者，您也可以考虑为这些环境明确构建的手机，例如CAT制造的手机。
(Use Caution)选择屏幕保护膜时要(Screen Protector)小心
在选择屏幕保护膜或决定是否需要屏幕保护膜时，需要考虑的因素数量之多令人吃惊。因此，我们将仔细研究您在做出决定之前应该注意的不同类型的保护器和复杂因素。
工厂安装的屏幕保护膜
说到制造智能手机的工厂，当你第一次从盒子里拿出手机时，你的手机可能已经有屏幕保护膜了。(screen protector)例如，三星 Galaxy S21 Ultra(Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra)应用了保护膜，可保护其免受轻微划痕。当它变得太磨损和损坏时，您可以毫无问题地将其移除。
一般而言，工厂安装的保护器都是如此。如果您愿意，可以立即删除它们，并用更好的东西或根本没有替换它们。或者，您可以保留它们，直到它们需要移除。您不应该做的是在您现有的工厂安装的保护膜上放置一个新的屏幕保护膜。(screen protector)另外，请确保您看到的是屏幕保护膜(screen protector)，而不是重要的东西。
屏幕保护膜可能很难(Pain)安装
工厂安装的保护器的一个优点是您不必自己安装它。这很好，因为屏幕保护膜是安装的噩梦。您不仅要确保您的屏幕完全没有污迹、污垢和头发，还必须笔直地涂抹保护膜，并且不要留有任何气泡。
每当您购买屏幕保护膜(screen protector)时，最好购买两个。因为您几乎肯定会弄乱应用程序，所以如果可以的话，通常最好让手机商店(phone store)的人为您应用它。
屏幕保护膜不一样
我们不能将屏幕保护膜作为一种单一类型的产品来讨论。有不同的屏幕保护膜，有些比其他的更实用。一些保护器不仅仅是保护您的屏幕。
您可以获得添加哑光防眩光涂层(anti-glare coating)的保护膜，使您的手机在明亮条件下更易于使用。超透明保护膜可最大限度地减少保护膜对图像的影响并过滤(image and filter)掉紫外线。另一方面，隐私屏幕保护器会掩盖屏幕上的内容，除了直视屏幕的人。因此，这些保护器具有屏幕保护之外的实用性。
当涉及为屏幕提供额外保护的主要工作时，不同的保护器以不同的方式关注它。
薄的 TPU 或 PET(Thin TPU or PET) 塑料屏幕(plastic screen)保护膜可防止微划痕。这些保护器是侵入性最小的，可防止您的手机在其生命周期内最有可能遭受的损坏类型。
钢化玻璃(Tempered glass)屏幕保护膜可防止撞击和划伤，尽管与其他保护膜类型相比它们又厚又重。虽然钢化玻璃保护膜的厚度确实可以防止划伤，但它们是否会采取任何措施来防止屏幕破裂仍然存在争议。
自我修复屏幕(Screen) 保护膜(Protectors)怎么样？
屏幕保护膜(screen protector)领域相对较新的发展是所谓的“自我修复”屏幕保护(screen protector)膜。确切的细节因品牌和实施(brand and implementation)方式而异，但在屏幕保护膜内(screen protector)有一层微小的物质，只要保护膜被划伤，就会泄漏出来，填满划痕。
从理论上讲，这可以延长您在更换屏幕保护膜(screen protector)之前可以打开屏幕保护膜的时间。自我修复的划痕是否不可见取决于您，到目前为止，我们看到的反馈不一。
屏幕保护膜会影响用户体验(User Experience)
没有什么(s nothing)比手指和手机之间没有任何东西直接使用触摸屏更好的了。手机(Mobile phone)屏幕的设计旨在为您提供完美的触觉响应，并使用令人难以置信的先进制造工艺为您提供水晶般清晰、充满活力的图像，该工艺将屏幕与(response and offer)触摸层和玻璃层(touch and glass layers)融合在一起，而不会损坏显示屏中的单个像素。
因此，在此之上贴上 10 美元的屏幕保护膜似乎有点过时，首先消除了使您的手机如此出色（且昂贵）的大部分原因。
提供最佳冲击保护(impact protection)的钢化玻璃屏幕(glass screen)保护膜也是最厚的。这意味着您的手机平滑弯曲的边缘现在在您每次滑过边缘时都会呈现出锐利的边缘，并且屏幕上的照片会被厚厚的玻璃层吸收和折射。
您可能认为影响很小，但如果您曾经在取下钢化玻璃屏幕保护膜后立即使用(glass screen protector)手机(phone right)，您就会知道相比之下它的外观和感觉要好得多。
保险可能是更好的解决方案
如果您主要担心保护手机免受轻微划痕而不是裂缝或破损，那么屏幕保护膜(screen protector)可能不是最佳解决方案。
毕竟，如果您的手机受到足够大的冲击力以打碎您的钢化玻璃屏幕保护膜(glass screen protector)，那么它很可能会破裂并损坏您的屏幕。因此，节省您的钱并将其花在电话保险(phone insurance)上更有意义。一些电话盗窃保险包括意外损坏保险(damage insurance)或提供便宜的附加险。一些承运人计划也是如此，它可以提供保险作为合同的一部分或附加项。
电话制造商也提供损坏保险(damage insurance)。Applecare就是一个很好的例子，但一些Android 手机(Android phone)制造商也提供类似的屏幕更换服务，例如Samsung Care+。您需要提前支付几年更换一两个屏幕的费用。
考虑到即使是单个屏幕维修(screen repair)的成本，这些保护计划也很划算。这不像电视(TVs)等不太可能遭受意外损坏的小工具的延长保修期。在您的手机生命中的某个时刻，您很有可能会丢弃它。
磨损是正常的
可以理解的是，您希望手机保持与新手机相同的状态，但您每天使用的任何物品都不可避免地会显示出这种使用的迹象。当手机被设计为时尚的高科技设备时，使用手机壳或在手机上贴上屏幕保护膜(screen protector)似乎是一种耻辱，这意味着触感和手感都是神奇的。
在某种程度上，在像这样的高科技设备上使用屏幕保护膜就像买一辆跑车，然后用塑料覆盖皮革并给车身涂上橡胶。(screen protector)当然，您可以防止材料磨损(prevent wear)，但您无法享受(t get)产品的外观和感觉(look and feel)。
转售论点(Resale Argument)（以及为什么它没有意义(Sense)）
如果您对微划痕的容忍度很低，那么薄的塑料屏幕保护膜可能会帮助您晚上入睡，但如果您想要(plastic screen protector)屏幕保护(screen protector)膜的主要原因是为了保护您的手机以备转售，我们认为您是在自己动手做伤害。
首先，您保留了您支付总价购买的设备，并减少了您对下一位所有者的享受 - 一个(owner—a buyer)可能不会被一些小划痕困扰的买家。
其次，与带有一些轻微划痕的实际转售价值(resale value)相比，您的手机可能不会得到更多。手机的现金转售(Cash resale)价格通常远低于手机的价值，这要归功于快速贬值以及大多数人不会用现金购买手机，而是通过有补贴的运营商合同(carrier contract)来购买手机的事实。
最终判决
最后，是否在手机上贴上屏幕保护膜(screen protector)取决于您自己，但根据我们所讨论的内容，您应该牢记以下几点：
- 屏幕保护膜主要擅长防止不会影响您使用手机的轻微划痕。
- 屏幕保护膜总是会在一定程度上影响手机的图像质量和可用性。
- 您通常可以花很少的钱获得屏幕更换保险或保护。(replacement insurance or protection)
- 厚的钢化玻璃屏幕(glass screen)保护膜是否会在严重到足以粉碎现代智能手机玻璃(smartphone glass)的跌倒中发挥作用，这是值得商榷的。
- 如果您在危险环境中使用手机，请考虑使用坚固的外壳或手机(case or phone)。
也许未来的智能手机玻璃技术(smartphone glass technology)将使屏幕保护膜完全多余，但即使在今天它们也是可选的。
Do You Really Need a Screen Protector on Your Smartphone?
Smartphones are an expensive purchase, and all it takеs іs one bad-luck event to smash your shiny new phone’ѕ ѕcreen into a million pieces. Thеre must be something you can do to preserve the quality and integrity of your phone!
Cases protect your phone from drops and bumps, but screen protectors are sold as a way to protect your screen itself from damage. That sounds great on paper, but do you really need a screen protector for your phone, or are they just an expensive placebo?
Cracked Screens Are Expensive to Replace
In the old days, if you broke your phone glass, it was possible to replace it without replacing the screen, assuming it was undamaged. However, modern screen technology uses a lamination process, so there’s no gap between the screen and the glass covering it. This results in much better image quality, but it also means that if the glass is damaged or cracked, you have to replace the entire screen.
This integration has seriously inflated the cost of fixing broken phone glass and is probably why you see so many folks walking around with shattered phones—it’s just too expensive to repair. The real question is how likely you are to have your phone end up in such a state, and to understand that, we have to talk about modern phone glass for a minute.
Smartphone Glass Is Incredible
First things first: smartphone screen glass is incredibly tough. Corning’s Gorilla Glass on Android phones or Ceramic Shield Glass on the new iPhones are aggressively impact and scratch-resistant. These glasses are so hard that only minerals can scratch them. Metals, like car keys in your pocket, are unlikely to leave a mark. On the Mohs hardness scale, Gorilla Glass Victus lies somewhere between 6 and 7. Steel, for comparison, is between 4 and 4.5. This means that hard minerals like quartz can make visible scratches to this glass, but most common materials shouldn’t mark it.
Your smartphone’s glass is already more than up to the task of handling everyday use. You might pick up some micro-scratches over the lifetime of your phone, but these don’t usually impact the feel of the screen or the look of images on it.
Manufacturers also test smartphones rigorously to ensure they handle more intense abuse. Linus Tech Tips took a smartphone factory tour, and from the testing shown there, the average smartphone is built to take serious punishment while still being functional.
So at this point, we can confidently say that most people don’t need a screen protector. There are still some cases where you might want one, but you should know what you’re getting into.
Who Absolutely Should Use a Screen Protector
We think that phones without screen protectors (or cases for that matter) are acceptable to handle everyday use out of the box, but the emphasis here is on “everyday use.”
If you work in a job or have a hobby that puts your phone into situations or near materials that can defeat the toughness of its materials, then you need more protection.
Many people overlook one source of glass damage: common minerals found in beach sand or hiking trails. If some grit ends up in your pocket with your phone, it may get scratched up to the point where it’s not good to use anymore.
If you work in a job like construction or are active outdoors, you might instead consider getting a full ruggedized case for your phone instead of a screen protector. Alternatively, you could also consider phones built explicitly for these environments, such as those made by CAT.
Use Caution When Choosing a Screen Protector
There’s a surprising number of considerations in play when picking a screen protector or deciding whether you need one at all. So we’ll carefully go over the different types of protectors and complex factors you should be aware of before making your decision.
Factory-fitted Screen Protectors
Speaking of the factories that make smartphones, your phone may already have a screen protector when you first take it out of the box. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has a protector applied that protects it from minor scratches. When it becomes too worn and damaged, you can remove it without any issue.
This is true for factory-fitted protectors in general. You can remove them immediately if you like and replace them with something better or nothing at all. Alternatively, you can just keep them until they need removal. What you shouldn’t do is put a new screen protector over your existing factory-fitted protector. Also, make sure what you’re seeing is a screen protector and not something important.
Screen Protectors Can Be a Pain to Fit
One advantage of a factory-fitted protector is that you don’t have to fit it yourself. This is good because screen protectors are a nightmare to fit. Not only do you have to make sure that your screen is entirely free of smudges, dirt, and hair, you also have to apply the protector straight and without trapping any air bubbles.
Whenever you buy a screen protector, it’s better to buy two. Because you’ll almost certainly mess up the application, it’s usually better to get the people from your phone store to apply it for you if you can.
Screen Protectors Are Not Made Equal
We can’t talk about screen protectors as one single type of product. There are different screen protectors, and some have more practical use than others. Some protectors do more than just protect your screen.
You can get protectors that add a matte anti-glare coating to make your phone more usable in bright conditions. Ultra-clear protectors minimize the effects of the protector on the image and filter out UV rays. On the other hand, privacy screen protectors obscure what’s on the screen to anyone except the person looking at it straight-on. So these protectors have utility beyond screen protection.
When it comes to the main job of providing extra protection for your screen, different protectors focus on it in varying ways.
Thin TPU or PET plastic screen protectors are there to prevent micro-scratches. These protectors are the least invasive and protect against the type of damage your phone is most likely to suffer during its lifetime.
Tempered glass screen protectors protect against both impacts and scratches, although they are thick and heavy compared to other protector types. While tempered glass protectors do protect against scratches thanks to their thickness, it’s debatable whether they do anything to prevent a cracked screen.
What About Self-healing Screen Protectors?
A relatively recent development in the world of screen protectors is the so-called “self-healing” screen protectors. The precise details vary depending on the brand and implementation, but within the screen protector is a tiny layer of a substance that leaks out whenever the protector is scratched, filling up the scratch.
In theory, this extends how long you can leave a screen protector on before replacing it. Whether the self-healed scratches are invisible or not depends on you, we’ve seen mixed feedback so far.
Screen Protectors Can Affect the User Experience
There’s nothing quite like using a touchscreen directly without anything between your finger and the phone. Mobile phone screens have been engineered to give you the perfect level of tactile response and offer you a crystal-clear, vibrant image using incredibly advanced manufacturing processes which fuse the screen with the touch and glass layers without damaging a single pixel in the display.
So it seems a little off to slap a $10 screen protector on top of this, undoing much of what made your phone so wonderful (and expensive) in the first place.
The tempered glass screen protectors that offer the best impact protection are also the thickest. This means your phone’s smooth curved edge now presents a sharp edge every time you swipe over the edge, and the photos from your screen are being absorbed and refracted by the thick layer of glass.
You may think that the impact is minor, but if you’ve ever used a phone right after taking off the tempered glass screen protector, you’ll know just how much better it looks and feels in comparison.
Insurance May Be a Better Solution
If you’re mainly worried about protecting your phone against minor scratches rather than cracks or breakages, then a screen protector may not be the best solution.
After all, if your phone takes an impact hard enough to shatter your tempered glass screen protector, then it’s likely to crack and break your screen anyway. So it makes more sense to save your money and spend it on phone insurance. Some phone theft insurance includes accidental damage insurance or offers a cheap add-on. The same goes for some carrier plans, which can provide insurance as part of your contract or as an add-on.
Phone makers also offer damage insurance. Applecare is a prime example, but some Android phone makers also offer similar screen-replacement offers, like Samsung Care+. You’re paying upfront to get one or two screen replacements for a few years.
Given the cost of even a single screen repair, these protection plans are a bargain. It’s not like extended warranties for gadgets like TVs which aren’t likely to suffer accidental damage. There’s a real chance that at some point in your phone’s life, you will drop it.
Wear and Tear Is Normal
Understandably, you want to keep your phone in the same condition as when new, but any object you use daily will inevitably show signs of that use. It seems a shame to use a case or apply a screen protector to your phone when it’s been designed as a sleek, high-tech device meant to be magical to the touch and in hand.
In a way, using a screen protector on high-tech devices like these is like buying a sports car and then covering the leather in plastic and rubberizing the body. Sure, you’ll prevent wear and tear to the materials, but you don’t get to enjoy the look and feel of the product.
The Resale Argument (And Why it Makes No Sense)
If your tolerance for micro-scratches is low, a thin plastic screen protector will probably help you sleep at night, but if your main reason for wanting a screen protector is to preserve your phone for resale, we think you’re doing it yourself a disservice.
First, you’re preserving a device you paid the total price for and reducing your enjoyment of it for the next owner—a buyer who may not be that bothered by a few minor scratches.
Secondly, you probably won’t get much more for your phone compared to its actual resale value with some minor scratches. Cash resale prices for phones are often much less than the phone is worth thanks to rapid depreciation and the fact that most people don’t buy phones with cash, but get them through a subsidized carrier contract.
The Final Verdict
In the end, whether you put a screen protector on your phone or not is up to you, but based on what we’ve discussed, you should keep these essential points in mind:
- Screen protectors are primarily good at preventing minor scratches that wouldn’t affect your use of a phone anyway.
- Screen protectors always impact your phone’s image quality and usability to some extent.
- You can often get screen replacement insurance or protection for very little money.
- It’s debatable whether thick tempered glass screen protectors make a difference in a fall severe enough to smash modern smartphone glass.
- If you use your phone in hazardous environments, consider a ruggedized case or phone instead.
Perhaps future smartphone glass technology will make screen protectors completely redundant, but even today they are optional.
