Ryan at gdgt raises the question today if Apple’s “antennagate” distracted us from a bigger problem, “glassgate”:

Whether or not you’ve experienced the iPhone 4’s famed death grip, or even believe it’s a real phenomenon (and based on extensive personal experience I can assure you that it is), the whole Antennagate scandal undoubtedly left a deep scratch on the iPhone’s squeaky-clean sheen.

But there’s another issue brewing behind the scenes that’s sent Apple’s iPhone engineering team back into the bunker for preemptive damage control.

According to my sources both inside and outside Apple, after Antennagate the iPhone engineering team identified another potential design flaw that appears to have sent them into a quiet lockdown, and has them working behind the scenes in what’s been described to me as something of a quiet panic to preempt any further tarnishing the iPhone brand.

Apple has apparently found that non-bumper style cases — specifically those that slide onto the iPhone 4, which are occasionally prone to particulate matter getting caught between the rear of the phone and the case — can cause unexpected scratching that could quickly develop into full-on cracking or even much larger fracturing of the entire rear pane of glass. To put it another way: Apple is afraid you might buy a standard slide-on iPhone case, put it on your phone, and then discover the next time you take it off that the entire back of your device has been shattered by no fault of your own.

It’s clear that with the iPhone 4, Apple compromised on durability for aesthetic reasons.

The iPhone 4 looks great – but the front and back glass faces mean that you’re twice as likely to have to deal with shattered glass.

From personal experience, the glass faces of the iPhone 4 are time bomb, waiting to go off with the slightest drop. My iPhone 4 dropped out of my car, from floorboard height to the ground – in a rubber case – and immediately shattered the glass.

Apple replaced my iPhone 4 for free, when I explained the situation. If your iPhone 4 suffers a similar fate, ask them to do the same.

Image: Gizmodo