The Screen On Your Next iPhone Will Probably Be Super Durable And Twice As Shatter Resistant
Called Gorilla Glass 4, the newer, tougher glass is said to be specifically designed to stay in tact after brutal drops and falls.
The company says it's examined hundred of broken devices and created a new drop test that more closely mirrors real-world scenarios.
The new test involves dropping devices from one meter face down so that the glass comes in direct contact with a hard surface.
So what does this mean? Almost every major smartphone maker, including Apple, uses Corning Gorilla Glass to coat the screens on their devices.
If Corning's new type of Gorilla Glass lives up to its claims, we'll hopefully be seeing iPhones and Android phones with super-durable displays that won't shatter after a few drops like this:
Or this:
Many believed Apple would use sapphire for the screen on its iPhone 6, but both the 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are coated with Corning's Gorilla Glass 3. Now that the relationship between Apple and its main sapphire supplier GT Advanced Technologies has fallen apart, it seems even less likely that we'll see sapphire on the next iPhone.
There's been a longstanding debate as to which material is actually more durable. Sapphire is the second hardest material next to diamond which makes it extremely scratch-resistant, but the more flexible properties in Corning's Gorilla Glass are less susceptible to cracks, experts have said.