For quite a while, there was a bit of buzz regarding the use of sapphire as a material in Apple’s iPhones. However from what we can tell, and from what Apple has said, the only sapphire we can find on the iPhone is on the cover of Touch ID and also for the camera lens, with the reason being that it is harder to scratch.
However it seems that might not be 100% the case here. In a video uploaded by JerryRigEverything (via The Verge), it has been discovered that Apple might not be using pure sapphire for its camera lens, and that it is most likely a sapphire laminate on top of regular glass.
The test involved an XRF machine and an electron microscope which proved that this was indeed the case. Further testing was done using a Tissot watch with a sapphire cover, and when scratched the iPhone’s lens saw marking at a level 6 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness, versus the Tissot which only saw markings at level 8.
We suppose technically it is still sapphire, but maybe just very low/impure quantities where it’s enough to make it more resilient, but we can only imagine that there are probably a few iPhone owners out there who might be feeling a little cheated by this.
Filed in . Read more about iPhone.