“It now seems that Apple was intent to use sapphire in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, as GT was manufacturing pieces in the shape of the new models. That also explains why a handful of sapphire cover glass prototypes were leaked, which only intensified speculation,” Evan Niu writes for The Motley Fool. “As Apple’s sapphire dreams hit a wall, will the iPhone maker go back to its tried-and-true supplier Corning.”
“Corning has just introduced Gorilla Glass 4, the latest version of its popular cover glass. The company says that Gorilla Glass 4 is twice as tough as any other cover glass on the market, while also providing twice the damage resistance. Corning focused very heavily on drop protection for this generation,” Niu writes. “Scratch resistance and drop protection are the most important characteristics of a cover glass material, and sapphire’s higher scratch resistance was one of the driving motivations for Apple to consider the material in the first place. However, sapphire is so brittle that it fares worse in the drop protection department. It’s also heavier.”
Niu writes, “Despite the fact that Corning just announced Gorilla Glass 4, the iPhone 6 might even already sport the material. At a UBS tech conference earlier this week, Corning’s CFO Jim Flaws said [emphasis added]: ‘Our Gorilla Glass business has seen volume growth versus last year. However, that’s been offset by a large price decline in Q1. We are planning to launch Gorilla Glass 4 this week, in fact, tomorrow. And I can’t spoil the launch, but it does promise to have dramatically improved performance characteristics, and our customers have already been integrating this glass into some new products, and we have been shipping for a while.‘”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H.” for the heads up.]
Probably need to ship some over to Ferguson.
Why the hell would anyone down vote this?
Because most people who read this site are sick of ev-er-y-thing being an opportunity for completely irrelevant comments.
heh, yeah right.
Why the hell would anyone UPVOTE this?! Is it too much to ask to keep the damn politics out of this site?
——RM
Shut up idiot.
you stfu, n*gga, I keek your bitchazz up yo’ mouf.
and we isn’t looters, we be undocumented shoppers.
Curious that there is speculation Apple might already using the new gorilla glass and at the same time reports are starting to appear of scratched iPhones.
There are materials that can easily scratch even toughened glass, and there’s always some careless jackass who mishandles their phone or places it in contact with something then bitches about it.
A sensible person puts a cheap plastic or glass screen protector over their screen to act as a sacrificial layer that’s quickly and cheaply replaced.
That’s the sensible ones, of course.
I have never used a screen protector, for two years with an iPod touch, three years with an iPhone 4S, and now with my iPhone 6. Never a scratch, ever. Unless you put a diamond ring in your pocket with your iPhone, I don’t see any scratches happening.
——RM
Sapphire won’t scratch. I swung my Omega X-33 wristwatch into the corner of my granite Kitchen counter top while walking around the corner. I heard a crunch and knew my watch was toast. The sharpened corner of the granite went right into the middle of the watch crystal. I looked down at the powder in the middle of my watch crystal and was devastated. I carefully wiped off the pile of white powder in the middle of the glass/sapphire to see no crack! I walked into the bathroom where the light was strong to see the scratch or damage to the glass/sapphire. There was not even a mark! I kid you not. Not a blemish. you can’t see anything and I swung my arm around right into the corner of the granite. Sapphire is no joke, my friends!… and you guys too!
Of course I forgot to mention that this is the watch that NASA selected to use on all Space Shuttle missions and beat out many other watches including the Submariner because the watch hands melted to the face when under the heat test!
I was surprised when I heard about iPhones getting screen scratches. Not because I didn’t think they couldn’t get scratched but large display flagship Android smartphones have been using Gorilla Glass for ages and I’ve never seen any internet bitching about any Android smartphone displays getting scratched. Apple comes out with a large display iPhone using Gorilla Glass and suddenly there are complaints about scratches being voiced. It’s possible to get more complaints because of the high number of units being sold, but that’s about the only thing that makes sense to me. Apple is an internet complaint magnet.
Those inexpensive plastic sheets are great protection for expensive displays. That would seem to be something any iPhone user should invest in. Maybe some consumers don’t know they’re available. I always had them even on my iPods.
noticing your name, the overture to Elmer Bernstein’s “Return Of The Magnificent Seven” rocks. Only better western filmscore was Moross’s “The Big Country.”
Isn’t good news from yesterdays article then where people with iPhone 6 are complaining of the glass scratching easier than previous iPhones!
If the 6 Plus has GG4, I wouldn’t be able to tell. I dropped my phone 3 ft, and with a case on, the glass shattered.
Apple Store, replaced it, no questions. But this was also within the first week of sales. So not sure what it means. Well it means they are AWESOME. I was almost in tears, as well as people near me saying that would be an appropriate reaction. :-).
I have a new, different case. I have both tempered glass and transparent polycarbonate covers, over the screen.
I think my phone is now bullet proof. But I won’t test it.
You put the Zagg tempered glass AND plastic screen protectors over your screen? There might be a point where you aren’t seeing the forest for the trees…
It works.. I figure I will get rid of the plastic screen protector, but in the meant time it’s there.
My Zagg Glass for my iPhone 6 plus has been replaced once and has cracked again. The phone screen is still intact though.
I rock my iPhone 6 as it was meant to be with no silly cases or screen shot protectors and its been great.