Corning is Working on a Sapphire-Like Material, Could be in the Next Gorilla Glass

Corning, makers of Gorilla Glass, the industry standard for hardened glass protection on mobile devices, said on Friday that it has developed a new material that brings together sapphire-like scratch resistance and the toughness of Gorilla Glass 4. While they wouldn’t share details on a launch of the product or which devices it would be used in, they did compare it specifically to Gorilla Glass 4, so one could surmise that this material will be in the next version of Gorilla Glass for smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches. 

Corning executive James Clappin reminded reporters during an investor meeting that sapphire didn’t fair well in their earlier tests because it couldn’t withstand a drop as well as other glass products of theirs. It may be an ultra-scratch resistant material, but that’s only half the battle when you are talking about smartphone display protection. By using a new material that someone captures the scratch resistant of sapphire, yet is as strong as Gorilla Glass 4, we could be in for one heck of a new product.

As a reminder, their new Gorilla Glass 4 is up to “two times tougher” than competitor glasses on the market now, and is already featured in phones like the Galaxy Note 4. Gorilla Glass 4 should withstand everyday drops up to 80% of the time, according to Corning’s tests. You can read more about Gorilla Glass 4 here.

The new sapphire-like material is currently operating under codename Project Phire.

Via:  CNET