Exactly, I think Apple made them more durable in terms of still functioning and glass not breaking when dropped, but scratched and dents aren't and were never covered by AppleCare. This would reduce their own costs associated with AppleCare if they're replacing less glass and entire phones due to drops.
fun fact. Scratches and scuffs not only aren’t covered by AC+, they usually aren’t reasons to not service a device either.
I actually took 2000 grid sandpaper to my X screen back in the day because the screen was very scratched anyway and I wanted some uniformity, also the reflections on that screen were very annoying in my then workplace. Had a „nano texture“ screen before it was a thing and actually liked it. It also felt much „smoother“ than the original screen.
Eventually the device malfunctioned for unrelated reasons and I had it replaced no problem.
I had some photos of the phone but I apparently don’t anymore, but apart from the notch it was entirely matte.
I
also once took 60-100 grid sandpaper to the edges of my 2017 MacBook Pro (not the top or bottom, but the entire outer edge) because I couldn’t live with it being perfect except for one spot that was really dented and scuffed after a drop. Had the top case replaced for the butterfly keyboard half a year later no problem.
I
also also did the same to a used Apple Watch I bought, that had a couple small chips, and I didn’t like the dark blue around the screen that much (wanted to actually see the reduced bezel width) and had that one replaced earlier this year for the battery. No questions asked either. I had a better picture but the one I found has to suffice.
I’m actually contemplating to do this again, just around the entire watch, which is difficult with the crown.