Corning proves that its glass withstands more than 2.5x the pressure

May 23, 2013 13:33 GMT  ·  By

Corning, the company whose glass is used in all iPhones today, has released a detailed report along with a video demonstration to prove the superiority of Gorilla Glass 3 over sapphire.

It has been widely speculated that Apple will switch to sapphire crystal for the touch-sensing overlay of its iPhone 5S/iPhone 6, because of its high durability and resistance to wear and tear.

Corning, however, has a different side of the story. It says its latest Gorilla Glass (the third-generation) is far superior, and has released a 38-second clip which seems to attest these claims.

“To develop Gorilla Glass 3, Corning used its detailed understanding of mobile device requirements and glass processing to develop a new atomic composition for glass,” the company states.

James R. Steiner, senior vice president and general manager of Corning’s Specialty Materials segment, which includes Gorilla Glass, says, “There are competitive products on the market, but we haven’t found any other solution that can meet all of the requirements consumers have today for their electronic devices.”

Sapphire not only breaks more easily than Gorilla Glass, but it also costs much more and poses a greater environmental hit, Steiner says.

To back these claims, Corning SVP Jeffrey W. Evenson says, “What would people say if someone invented a cover that was about half the weight, used 99 percent less energy to make, provided brighter displays, and cost less than a tenth of sapphire?”

“I think they’d say that sapphire was in real trouble. It so happens that we at Corning already invented that cover – and it’s called Gorilla Glass,” he adds.

Other advantages that Gorilla Glass holds over sapphire include:

- it has a precision surface, leading to a brighter experience; - it can be mass manufactured quickly and cost-effectively; - it can be recycled using standard recycling programs; - it can be molded, providing designers with more options.

With Apple trying to keep production costs to a minimum, especially considering rumors of a cheaper iPhone being developed, it looks like Corning is still in business.