Corning: Sapphire Phone Screens Weaker Than You Think

I am quite sure by now that most of us who are familiar with touchscreen mobile devices would have heard of Gorilla Glass by now, where it has been claimed that this glass is capable of some pretty rough treatment through everyday use without breaking. Well, Corning says that the strength of sapphire phone screens might not live up to your expectations, despite being naturally strong, highly scratch resistant, and has the ability to withstand flexing with the added bonus of transmitting light very well – or at least, according to popular opinion.

Corning, the maker of the Gorilla Glass material which sees action across a wide range of smartphone displays, has this to say. After testing the strength of sapphire claims in-house, they claim that sapphire is a poor choice in taking in abuse for large smartphone displays, although they work fine in offering protection to watch faces and camera lenses. So far, no detailed report of its test results have been shared just yet, and there has been no plans as at press time to work alongside an independent testing outfit to confirm its findings. What you hear here are results from Corning’s own in-house test, which was run in Corning’s own lab. Sapphire did well in resistance to macro-scratches, but failed in a tumble test as the device spun close to an hour, picking up scratches that weakened its structure, before it succumbed to a ring-on-ring pressure test.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: corning, gorilla glass