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Apr 12, 2001
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sapphire.png
Before the announcement of its Apple partnership and the new 700-employee manufacturing facility in Arizona, GT Advanced Technologies only generated 11 percent of its revenue from its sapphire business.

Going forward, with the new Apple deal, GT Advanced will see sapphire production as its main source of revenue, increasing its sapphire sales by as much as 15 to 16 times, according to a report by Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White (via AllThingsD).

So far in 2013, sapphire accounted for just $29 million in revenue, while the company projects as much as $480 to $640 million in sapphire sales in 2014. According to White:
We do not expect sapphire to replace Corning's Gorilla Glass on the iPhone or iPad in the coming quarters; however, we believe sapphire could gain traction in new small form factor applications or high-end devices with Apple in the future.
AllThingsD agrees that the increase, suggesting that "Cupertino has big plans and broader uses for the sapphire material" that it currently uses in iPhone camera lenses and fingerprint-recognition buttons.

According to the press release GT Advanced released on Monday, Apple is requiring GT to maintain a minimum level of capacity and the company will be subject to certain exclusivity terms. More interestingly, GT expects to see its gross margins to drop significantly as production rises, though the recurring revenue stream from Apple will be strategically important to the company.

Apple currently uses small pieces of sapphire glass -- which provides superior durability and scratch resistance to other forms of glass -- to protect the cameras on the iPhone and on the home button for the new Touch ID-equipped iPhone 5s. A report from earlier this year suggested that future smartphones may use sapphire, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide, instead of more traditional forms of glass.

One possible destination for Apple's new sapphire glass production is in a potential smart watch project. Sapphire is already extensively used in high-end watchmaking and could be more feasible on a small screen than the larger display on a smartphone or tablet.

Article Link: Apple's Arizona Factory is Dramatic Expansion of GT Advanced's Sapphire Production
 

eladnova

macrumors regular
Aug 31, 2012
124
9
So far in 2013, sapphire accounted for just $29 million in revenue

Oh man. "Just" 29 big ones. What a drag. Made 29 mill myself last year and thats all I could think about. Made the new year very tense. "WHY LORD, WHY???? JUST 29 million. Couldn't it have been an acceptable 50 mill. How am I supposed to live on 8 figure sums":rolleyes:
 

amcomis

macrumors newbie
Sep 19, 2012
25
144
Oh man. "Just" 29 big ones. What a drag. Made 29 mill myself last year and thats all I could think about. Made the new year very tense. "WHY LORD, WHY???? JUST 29 million. Couldn't it have been an acceptable 50 mill. How am I supposed to live on 8 figure sums":rolleyes:

HUH? Thats revenue boss, calm down. Doesnt mention income/profit
 

Klae17

macrumors 65816
Jul 15, 2011
1,226
1,576
GT sure is a talkative company for being an Apple affiliate.

----------

Oh man. "Just" 29 big ones. What a drag. Made 29 mill myself last year and thats all I could think about. Made the new year very tense. "WHY LORD, WHY???? JUST 29 million. Couldn't it have been an acceptable 50 mill. How am I supposed to live on 8 figure sums":rolleyes:

That margin sucks.
 

Lennyvalentin

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2011
1,431
793
Sapphire is very hard as we all probably know by now, but not very tough, and such a large piece of it as an iphone or ipad screen could be quite prone to shattering if struck by another solid object. Apple better laminate that screen damn carefully, because I don't want to know what kind of damage sapphire splinters could possibly cause to a person... Hardened glass for example breaks into fairly small lumps that are relatively harmless, but if sapphire forms long pointy superhard needles things could get ugly.
 

johncrab

macrumors 6502
Aug 11, 2011
341
0
Scottsdale, AZ
The part of this story which is not being told and which is the most fascinating is how they cut and polish this stuff into such thin sheets. Now that would be an interesting process.
 

Wishbrah

macrumors regular
Oct 20, 2013
235
8
Sapphire is very hard as we all probably know by now, but not very tough....

how are you differentiating between hard and tough?

sapphire glass is used only in expensive watches. i dont hear complaints about them shattering, or scratching...ever, really.
 

jephrey

macrumors regular
Dec 19, 2005
214
82
Although I don't care for wearable tech, I think a watch is inevitable. I don't doubt that the screen would be small enough to possibly use sapphire based on Apple's investment in them. Now that I'm long GTAT shares, I hope something positive happens.
 

Radiating

macrumors 65816
Dec 29, 2011
1,018
7
Sapphire is very hard as we all probably know by now, but not very tough, and such a large piece of it as an iphone or ipad screen could be quite prone to shattering if struck by another solid object. Apple better laminate that screen damn carefully, because I don't want to know what kind of damage sapphire splinters could possibly cause to a person... Hardened glass for example breaks into fairly small lumps that are relatively harmless, but if sapphire forms long pointy superhard needles things could get ugly.

SAPPHIRE GLASS DOES NOT SPLINTER.


Glass splinters because it is made up of many small fuzed particles with many imperfections. Sapphire is grown from a single crystal and does not have such imperfections. Instead when you crack it it has just cracks along a solid line, or a small set of lines, which is actually not very sharp or prone to cutting. Sapphire NEVER splinters into thousands of little pieces but cracks into many large shards.
 

T-Will

macrumors 65816
Sep 8, 2008
1,042
433
Waits patiently for the blurrycam shots of watch face sized sapphire cutouts. :D
 

hello12

macrumors regular
Sep 25, 2012
146
51
Sapphire is very hard as we all probably know by now, but not very tough, and such a large piece of it as an iphone or ipad screen could be quite prone to shattering if struck by another solid object. Apple better laminate that screen damn carefully, because I don't want to know what kind of damage sapphire splinters could possibly cause to a person... Hardened glass for example breaks into fairly small lumps that are relatively harmless, but if sapphire forms long pointy superhard needles things could get ugly.

Are you kidding me? Do you think apple would release a product with such a hazard? No.
And also, where did you get so much knowledge about sapphire glass, do you use it and test it yourself?
 

leftoverbacon

macrumors member
Oct 31, 2013
36
51
Doing Business

This reminds me of an old Yiddish saying that roughly translates to "You may lose a little bit on every sale, but you make up for it in volume".
 

funone0

macrumors member
Feb 1, 2011
65
15
Hopeful

I really hope Apple at least uses this in the iWatch and hopefully even more products (like the iPhone) :)
 
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