Apple Said to Have Enough Sapphire Glass for Production of Both iPhone 6 Models and iWatch in 2014

Cyborg21 said:

So a Phablet (4.7'' or 5.5'' it doesn't matter) is too big for portability,

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Very strange since I know plenty of people who have no difficulty moving from place to place eith their samsung galaxies. They fit in their pockets, in their handbags. I guess when I see someone putting a Sammy 2,3 or 4 in their pockets and moving about, I must be imagining that?

indeed once upon a time not do long ago mobile phones were larger and certainly heavier than even 5.5 inch phablets, yet somehow people bought them thinking they were portable and indeed took them from place to place. What were they thinking?

Four oF NINE said:

Reading comprehension isn't your strong suit, is it? Way to miss the entire point of the post.
Congratulations.

I have a 5S and a 5C now, and had a 4S before that. I guess you missed the point about the upgraded internals and the sapphire crystal display.

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and your comprehension is not as well...you missed my point...

Saphire glass and liquid metal case = first unbreakable phone.

bdkennedy1 said:

Saphire glass and liquid metal case = first sturdy smart phone that won't blow apart or crack or fail when dropped 3' or more.

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... corrected.

bdkennedy1 said:

Saphire glass and liquid metal case = first unbreakable phone.

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This glass still shatters, but you'll have to take it to apple to get replaced

I know things have changed a fair bit with their design, but mobiles were pretty much all "unbreakable" before smartphones became the norm. A standard issue Nokia could survive any number of drops through it's lifetime, but plastic seems to be a dirty word nowadays (for phones anyway).

This article, plus this:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1670476/

Plus this:

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patent...to-iphone-ipad-future-iwatch-cover-glass.html

...Is more solid evidence than most analysts work off. I feel it's safe to assume that not only are we getting highly scratch resistant iPhone displays, but Apple has addressed issues like cost, durability, and supply.

We simply won't know until the iPhone 6 comes out though. I'm feeling confident that we'll be seeing two screen sizes, and they'll be positioned like the iPad air and mini: identical features except a choice of screen size, with the larger being $100 more. Whether or not they'll look like the mock-ups we've seen, I'm less confident about: they all appear to come from the same source, and they're just spreading like wildfire because of availability. We've yet to see convincing parts from the factory like we have in years past, just these mockups.

bdkennedy1 said:

Saphire glass and liquid metal case = first unbreakable phone.

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The first LiquidMetal phones with a sapphire display were probably the Vertu Ascent series, dating back to 2004.

This would be more like the first affordable one.

While not quite unbreakable, it would certainly be very scratch and dent resistant. If there was good dust and water resistance as well, that'd be even better.

koban4max said:

and your comprehension is not as well...you missed my point...

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Well then by all means, enlighten me. Your only comment to me was that I should buy an iPhone 4S as a solution, unless I already had one. Was there something else there?

Four oF NINE said:

Well then by all means, enlighten me. Your only comment to me was that I should buy an iPhone 4S as a solution, unless I already had one. Was there something else there?

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the point is why you trollin? You said in your previous comment that you prefer 3.5 to 4 inches... well..who cares...so be it then..go get that...

It's not possible to see that picture of sapphire glass furnaces too many times.

koban4max said:

the point is why you trollin? You said in your previous comment that you prefer 3.5 to 4 inches... well..who cares...so be it then..go get that...

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If that's your take why bother weighing in? If you don't care go on about your business. I'm having a discussion regarding relevant points about the new iPhone. You had nothing to add to my post, beyond some snarky BS.

Apple execs sitting around a table talking:

2013:
"How sweet would it be if we made a gold iphone?"
-"Lol, that'd be fantastic, let's do it."

2014:
-"We should leak fake parts and information about the iPhone 6."
-"Seriously we should do that, I'm surprised we haven't already."

In which case there would still be hope for an edge to edge display on the iphone 6. With Saphire glass being crucial, as a normal gorilla glass edge to edge display would likely shatter often when dropped. We know sapphire is less flexible than gorrila glass, but does anyone know if it's more impact resistant?


EDIT: Found this chart. I like the looks of the "fracture toughness" and the "shear modulus"



EDIT: Never mind, I just realized that the glass on the iphone 5 is already edge to edge, just not the LCD panel. What the heck is the sapphire for? Certainly not just it's scratch resistance.

How many solar panels will Apple need to offset the energy usage of 2,500 furnaces?

In some ways I'm sort of surprised that Apple would seemingly reverse direction when it comes to becoming increasingly "green" environmentally.

I don't say this for the intention of complaining - but as an observation and a surprise.

This is totally awesome. It is incredible to have 2,500 furnaces growing sapphire boules and to be using a particle accelerator to pop off thin layers of the material. I can't wait for Davide Pogue to do a show about this.

I wonder how they determine crystal orientation. They must have some sort of x-ray diffraction equipment to map the boule to find orientation and to confirm that it is single crystal. I'm guessing that the orientation of the crystal is important.

I suspect that the cover for the iPhone will be some sort of laminate. Apple engineers and scientists have probably worked out something that puts a layer of hard sapphire on top of one or more other layers of glass to absorb shocks and to allow the sapphire to deform without releasing divots when stressed.

I can't wait to get hold of this and analyze it. I've looked at Gorilla glass cross sections and mapped the distribution of K in the glass by SEM/EDS. Just as advertised, the K concentration is highest at the surface.

It was hell making a cross section of Gorilla glass. This new cover will be even more difficult to work with. Probably I'll have to use diamond paste at every step of the process.

Sapphire in very then sheets 20microns across are going to need to be laminated with traditional glass. I think this is the technique that will be used. Zero scratches with tough lamination that prevents cracks and shattering.

Gorilla glass is similar I it's laminated design but uses some other techniques that mean its scratch resistant but no where as good as sapphire.

It's dead cool and I would recommend sapphire company stocks as a number one investment right now.

G4DP said:

A few things, they are not the first to the market with Saphire. Cheap £100 watches even have Saphire glass. Production is dirt cheap. less than $0.10 a carat.

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You're saying all these stories that Sapphire Crystal glass for the iPhone will increase the cost by $20 or so are fake? And if production is dirt cheap, why is Apple spending many hundred million dollars to increase production?

Time to short Corning glass stock?

tevion5 said:

This might be a major selling point if implemented correctly. First to the market, and perhaps Apple are the only company in the position to actually sustain this level of expensive production.

Samsung make your move.

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Never underestimate the ability of a state-subsidized, Asian company with mass labor living in company housing, exercising to company songs, copying a western technology and throwing dirt cheap labor at mass production of an imitation.

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osaga said:

EDIT: Found this chart. I like the looks of the "fracture toughness" and the "shear modulus"

Image

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I wouldn't be surprised if Corning dropped the ball on this due to an IP issues or was caught between their Apple and delivery commitments with other customers. Does anyone have a patent suite description concerning Corning's and Apple patents for sapphire glass surfaces?

iOSaddict said:

Apple hurry up I need to go back to iphone asap. Sick of Android

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I wish there were more good options I'm sick of both.

If sapphire glass is truly as durable as it appears I'd like to see the glass-back iPhone 4 series implementation option return in future versions. Aesthetically I like it better than the metal-back case.

G4DP said:

Production is dirt cheap. less than $0.10 a carat.

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How do you come to this figure?

HobeSoundDarryl said:

Yes. The advantage for Sapphire is that it will a bit more scratch resistant than glass. It probably also sounds sexier and more valuable for Apple's marketing spin.

The disadvantages is that it doesn't bring anything in terms of better shatter resistance and that it costs more than glass. If you're in the camp of worrying about what other people think, it will visibly look exactly the same as glass so those around you will never go "wow! You have sapphire glass!" because they won't be able to tell unless you tell them (and even then, there's no visible difference).

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Believe it or not, not everybody gets an iPhone so more people will like them.

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Four oF NINE said:

If that's your take why bother weighing in? If you don't care go on about your business. I'm having a discussion regarding relevant points about the new iPhone. You had nothing to add to my post, beyond some snarky BS.

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And why are you still responding to him? When responding to a troll, it eventually reaches a point where the troll stops looking bad and you start looking petty.

Kissaragi said:

Thats an almost unimaginable amount of sapphire. Pretty amazing they can mass produce them at a low enough price.

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Price is relative. This is Apple we're talking about, they'll make plenty of profit by pricing it accordingly. This is not about being cheap, it's about a premium product, bragging rights come at a price.

Thunderhawks said:

The insides of iPhone 6 will be bigger than the outside, so glass needed is actually less.

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It is the iPhone TARDIS.

Sapphire makes sense for watches. Gorilla Glass makes sense for phones. Watches need scratch resistance. Phones need shatter resistance. Different materials for different uses. You pick the best material for the product.

If Apple really has managed to get high enough yields for 5.5" screens, then they've pulled off a miracle, basically. They should actually sell that sapphire on the open market instead of putting it on phones.