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Apple Looking to Take Arizona Sapphire Plant Live in February for 'Critical' Component

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple is aggressively pursuing the launch of its new sapphire plant in Mesa, Arizona for a "critical new sub-component", according to documents obtained by 9to5Mac. The company is aiming to open the plant by February.

sapphire_furnaces.jpg
Furnaces for sapphire glass production.​
The documents reveal that James J. Patton, Apple's Deputy Director of Global Trade Compliance, requested expedited approval from the Foreign-Trade Zone Board to approve two requests that would allow Apple to meet its "aggressive go-live timeline" for February 2014. Recently, both Apple and manufacturing partner, GT Advanced, have been recruiting potential employees for the sapphire plant.

In addition, the documents indicate the sapphire plant would be used to create a "critical new sub-component" for use in Apple's consumer electronics. Apple currently uses sapphire glass to protect the iPhones' camera lenses and the iPhone 5s' Touch ID home button, but Apple's language in the documents suggests something more could be in the works.
Project Cascade will conduct high-tech manufacturing of intermediate goods/components for consumer electronics. All finished components will be exported. This high-tech manufacturing process will create a critical new sub-component of Apple Products to be used in the manufacture of the consumer electronics that will be imported and then sold globally. By pulling this process into the U.S., Apple will be using cutting edge, new technology to enhance and improve the consumer products, making them best in class per product type.
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While it's not clear what a "new" sub-component could be, Apple could be looking to create full-screen displays made out of sapphire. Sapphire could also be used to protect the display on Apple's much-rumored iWatch.

The report also includes information on some of the other materials that will be utilized in the plant, like diamond cutting wire, which as 9to5Mac points out, is currently used in iPhone and iPad assembly to create bezels.

Just a couple days ago, Taiwan's Apple Daily reported the company's assembly partner Foxconn had begun an initial 100 unit run of an iPhone with a sapphire glass display. Last week, an Apple patent application for an Apple device with a sapphire glass display was also discovered.

Sapphire has been seen as a potential successor to high-strength glass for display covers, although Corning claims Gorilla Glass 3 is stronger than sapphire glass at a lower cost. Apple has reportedly experimented with sapphire glass displays before, but found them infeasible. It is possible, however, that advances in material and production technology have allowed the company to revisit the possibility.

Article Link: Apple Looking to Take Arizona Sapphire Plant Live in February for 'Critical' Component
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/30/arizona-plant-february-critical-component/
BvizioN

BvizioN

macrumors 603
Mar 16, 2012
5,701
4,819
Manchester, UK
Jacquesvw said:
Corning claimed some time ago that Gorilla Glass has better scratch resistance, unless they are worried about sapphire killing their business.
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A company saying their product is better then the others doesn't surprise me. Wether or not it is true remains to be seen.
 
Peace

Peace

Cancelled
Apr 1, 2005
19,546
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Space The Only Frontier
A display for an iPhone wouldn't be considered a sub-component would it ? Isn't it more of a main component ?

Could just be sapphire home button for the iPad and iPhone .

Unless of course Apple is going to use sapphire on some sort of remote control device.
 
N

NoNothing

macrumors 6502
Aug 9, 2003
453
511
Jacquesvw said:
Whatever this new sub-component might be, I think it's safe to assume it will create another bottleneck in the supply chain. My understanding is that producing sapphire is a complex, slow and expensive process.

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Corning claimed some time ago that Gorilla Glass has better scratch resistance, unless they are worried about sapphire killing their business. I don't think Apple will go backwards with an inferior product...

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Also, let me make it clear that I would much rather prefer Apple use diamond instead of sapphire on my devises. :D
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It is not even close. Sand will easily scratch Gorilla Glass. Sapphire? Not even if it wanted to.
 
Nevaborn

Nevaborn

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2013
1,086
327
Jacquesvw said:
Whatever this new sub-component might be, I think it's safe to assume it will create another bottleneck in the supply chain. My understanding is that producing sapphire is a complex, slow and expensive process.

----------



Corning claimed some time ago that Gorilla Glass has better scratch resistance, unless they are worried about sapphire killing their business. I don't think Apple will go backwards with an inferior product...

----------

Also, let me make it clear that I would much rather prefer Apple use diamond instead of sapphire on my devises. :D
Click to expand...

Gorilla glass aint that strong and for scratch resistance I would choose saphire any day. Gorilla glass scratches easy no matter what they say, every iPhone I see ends up with a blemish. People have had sapphire watches 20+ years and not a mark.

Apple has selected partners who have made great advances in production speed, yield and cost reduction which is why they are pushing it so aggressively.

Also the good thing is if we end up up with all sapphire phones then they can give different colours right within the saphire itself so no threads of what colour scratches easiest.
 
Oohara

Oohara

macrumors 68040
Jun 28, 2012
3,050
2,423
Clearly they're making lenses for military lasers. The time of corporate military world rulership is upon us!!!!!
 
S

smulji

macrumors 68030
Feb 21, 2011
2,847
2,715
Nevaborn said:
Gorilla glass aint that strong and for scratch resistance I would choose saphire any day. Gorilla glass scratches easy no matter what they say, every iPhone I see ends up with a blemish. People have had sapphire watches 20+ years and not a mark.

Apple has selected partners who have made great advances in production speed, yield and cost reduction which is why they are pushing it so aggressively.

Also the good thing is if we end up up with all sapphire phones then they can give different colours right within the saphire itself so no threads of what colour scratches easiest.
Click to expand...

"People have had sapphire watches 20+ years and not a mark. "

One word comes to mind when I read this sentence - iWatch.
 
C

claus1225

macrumors member
May 25, 2009
97
2
i think we all know it's blue sapphire crystal that is going to be used for iphone 6 and later ipads.

no need to say "we dont know" or "we are not sure"

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the number one weakness of smartphone is cracked or scratched screen.

this has been the issue since years ago. this is also why there is such a huge market for phone case and cover

of course apple wants to do something about it

you make it sound like it's a top secret when it's an open project known to all.
 
G

ghettochris

macrumors 6502a
Feb 19, 2008
773
0
smulji said:
"People have had sapphire watches 20+ years and not a mark. "

One word comes to mind when I read this sentence - iWatch.
Click to expand...

I can't wait, I think the iWatch will bring on the cyborg era, where it monitors blood chemistry and siri can act as iDoctor and tell you if your body is deficient in nutrients or to basically act as a digital instrument panel for our analog body.

Without iWatch, our bodies are just like a car with no instrument panel. you just have to guess how fast you are going and when you need gas and you only notice the engine is messed up when things get really bad.
 
Robin4

Robin4

macrumors 6502
Feb 6, 2010
355
26
RTD-NC
Sapphire hmmmm

Outside of creating a glass component are there any other functions that sapphire could improve/create? ie, batteries, etc.
 
Mike Oxard

Mike Oxard

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2009
804
458
Is Sapphire more or less recyclable than glass? Does it's use improve Apples "Green Credentials"?
 
T

TC03

macrumors 65816
Aug 17, 2008
1,272
356
Jacquesvw said:
Whatever this new sub-component might be, I think it's safe to assume it will create another bottleneck in the supply chain. My understanding is that producing sapphire is a complex, slow and expensive process
Click to expand...
So what do you do when something is complex, slow and expensive? You build your own factory so you can optimize the production process according to your needs.

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Illusion986 said:
Gorilla Glass is stronger, But which is more scratch resistant?
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Sapphire. Also, please note that 'stronger' is not a measurable property. 'Strong' is a linguistical term to evaluate stiffness and/or hardness (= scratch resistant) of a material. So 'strong' and 'scratch resistant' are not really two comparable indicators.

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smulji said:
"People have had sapphire watches 20+ years and not a mark. "

One word comes to mind when I read this sentence - iWatch.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but why would you hire iPhone Manufacturing Design Engineers for iWatch components?
 
E

everything-i

macrumors 6502a
Jun 20, 2012
827
2
London, UK
Illusion986 said:
Gorilla Glass is stronger, But which is more scratch resistant?
Click to expand...

Although a lot of hype has been heard about Gorilla Glass it is not anywhere near as hard as sapphire. Sapphire is only slightly softer than diamond and a display made from it would be very difficult to scratch. There would certainly be no need to worry about it being in your pocket with your keys. Problem with this is that this quality also makes it brittle. From various patents and rumours it looks like Apple is going to be producing very thin sheets of sapphire to bond to softer shatter proof glass which could give them a composite which is extremely resistant to scratches and also shatter proof. If they can do this it would easily give them the best display glass available.
 
D

downpour

macrumors 6502a
Oct 20, 2009
524
317
Illusion986 said:
Gorilla Glass is stronger, But which is more scratch resistant?
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If I understand correctly sapphire scores nine on the Mohs scale, making it the second hardest material in the world after diamond. :cool:

They use it to make bullet proof glass.

It's also made from aluminium, third most abundant element in the universe. This makes it a pretty much perfect material for Apple to use when building future durable and environmentally friendly devices.
 
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