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

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I'd say from day 0 sapphire would be less green than gorilla glass because it takes more energy to produce (melts at higher temps I'm presuming) but if you factor in fewer replacements and the transport/man hours and energy involved in making/shipping and installing screen replacements it would probably come out greener by end of life.

Generally things that last longer are greener.
 
For what it's worth, from Corning's FAQ:

"Many device makers and consumers are concerned about the environmental effects of mobile devices. How “green” are sapphire and Gorilla Glass?

"Gorilla Glass uses about one one-hundredth as much energy to form as sapphire.

"If all the smartphones in the world used sapphire as a cover, we calculate that the incremental energy required would be the same as 2.6 million average U.S. households use annually, or 7.4 times as much energy as the Hoover Dam produces in a year."

--

Of course, iPhones do not make up "all the smartphones in the world", so divide that by something like five or six.
 
ghettochris said:
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.
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RESISTANCE IS FUTILE! We are Apple...er... BORG.
 
I applied to this position from craigslist a couple weeks back, but I now believe it may be connected with this story:

http://tucson.craigslist.org/mnu/4287641112.html

It is asking for process engineers with:

"Experience in Solar and / or Electronics Industries Highly Desired."

And

"Experience with Sapphire, Crystal Growth, Silicon"

The employer is listed as confidential, but the position is in Mesa and "to begin work (early) to mid Feburary."

Sure sounds like the job is for this Apple plant. What do you all think?
 
ghettochris said:
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.
Click to expand...

What about... the brain!? When I need fuel, I feel hungry. When I have low blood sugar, I feel faint. When I'm at risk of damaging a body part, I feel pain.
 
downpour said:
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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Aluminium may be abundant, but it requires ridiculous amounts of energy to produce.
 
9to5Mac says there were Mesa job listings on Apple's site that have been removed. I'm still seeing 3 job listings. Based on the job descriptions it sounds like more than just glass for home buttons.

Manufacturing Design Engineer- Mechanical Enclosures

Job Summary

The Manufacturing Design Engineer is accountable for driving the development of key mechanical manufacturing processes across Apple’s worldwide supply base. In this highly visible hands-on role as the expert technical member of the Manufacturing Design Team you will have direct frequent communication and collaboration with Apple Industrial Design, Product Design, Manufacturing Design partners and worldwide suppliers.

Key Qualifications

Process Development Focus Areas:
Apple is looking for world class engineers that will provide end to end manufacturing and process solutions for key design features. This includes incorporating all aspects of equipment, consumables, key parameters and process set-up and qualification.
Surface Finishing - Develop new processes are the area of blasting, tumbling, polishing, lapping, anodizing etc.
Glass Processing - Develop new processes for glass scribe/break, CNC grinding, lapping, chemical strengthening, ink decoration, PVD coatings etc.
Automation - Develop new automation across manufacturing. Identify automation opportunities and justify automation projects, identify world-class automation integrators, define automation project scope and deliverables, support the qualification of equipment at suppliers.
CNC machining - Develop all CNC milling and turing processes. Scope appropriate CNC equipment to be used, develop CNC fixtures, implement touch probing, own the reduction of cycle time, development of advanced cutters and coatings, High Speed Machining implementation, support the programming and optimization of all CNC-related activities at contract manufacturers worldwide
Painting - Develop all paint processes to achieve cosmetic and surface durability requirements. Scope and specify paint equipment, environmental clean room requirements, evaluate and select most appropriate paints and painting parameters to ensure quality and yield requirements are met.

Mechanical Supplier Quality Engineer

Job Summary

In this highly visible and highly hands-on role, you will enjoy the key decision making combined with the on-site hands-on problem solving that comes with owning the quality for some of the highest quality and highest visibility products in the world today. You will be responsible for developing and implementing quality tools and systems for cutting edge product designs in a cosmetically demanding environment.

Technical Product Manager

Job Summary

The Technical Product Manager (TPM) is responsible for the managing and guiding of development activities of a highly skilled product development, operations, and quality team within Apple to develop and manufacture mechanical enclosures. The TPM will guide the team to develop processes for building world-class products from existing and new ideas based on business needs. The TPM should possess a blend of business and technical knowledge, have a big-picture vision and the drive to make the vision into reality.
 
Replace

I've seen very few material scratches on iPhones, especially lately with Gorilla Glass 3. However, I know lots of folks who have dropped and shattered their screen resulting in the need to get it replaced.

So going to great lengths to improve scratch resistance doesn't seem to make too much sense if there are any additional drawbacks. Apple wants to, at times, to be producing nearly 500,000 iPhones a day. Is there anyway this one factory in Arizona can make the screens for iPhone 6 without being a huge bottleneck?
 
Will definitely spread the line between Apple and all the others. Apple can potentially innovate to the point where competition just can't catch up fast enough.
 
I believe those are not "furnaces" but autoclave where the pressure is a key parameter to be controlled, besides the temperature and time. Used for the chemical reactions and lamination process.

How will this material/process affect the price of the "screen" whatever the iDevice uses it?
Any rumors on the volume capacity that this facility will have? This will be key to speculate which kind of device will have it?

As a laminated sub-component this offers some possibilities:
- solar charging as mentioned already
- 3D without glasses
- haptics keyboard?? Not sure about this one...
- anything else???
 
TC03 said:
[COLOR]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.[/COLOR="#808080"]
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True, and even when discussing strength you need to be specific; are you referring to tensile or shear for example. A material could be good in one and poor in the other. Since brittle fracture is what causes most screen breakage you'd want a high tensile strength. In addition, since hardness determines scratch resistance you'd want that high as well.

TC03 said:
[/COLOR]Yeah, but why would you hire iPhone Manufacturing Design Engineers for iWatch components?
Click to expand...

There is probably a lot of overlap in the engineering skills needed to design either so Apple could look for those most directly and hire people with them without officially leaking that they plan to make a watch.
 
SteveGo said:
I applied to this position from craigslist a couple weeks back, but I now believe it may be connected with this story:

http://tucson.craigslist.org/mnu/4287641112.html

It is asking for process engineers with:

"Experience in Solar and / or Electronics Industries Highly Desired."

And

"Experience with Sapphire, Crystal Growth, Silicon"

The employer is listed as confidential, but the position is in Mesa and "to begin work (early) to mid Feburary."

Sure sounds like the job is for this Apple plant. What do you all think?
Click to expand...

I seriously doubt Apple would post in Craigslist. Probably spam.
 
claus1225 said:
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

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

I'd be really, really shocked if the iPhone 6 had a sapphire display. iWatch? Probably. iPhone 6S-7? Maybe. But no way on the 6.
 
Solar Powered iWatch

I think the most likely use initially for this plant will be developing solar-capable screens for the iWatch. I have had a solar powered watch for several years and it works great. Software can even turn the display off when not in use. If Apple is truly looking into combining solar power with sapphire displays, a smaller device like a watch would be the best place to "field test" the technology.

The amount of sapphire glass that would have to be produced for the iPhone alone (not to mention the next iPad) would be too much for one plant, with new technology, to manufacture. It will take several months to a couple years to iron out any bugs in their systems and refine their processes to maximize efficiency.
 
BornAgainApple said:
Not a fan of Gorilla Glass after a 12-year old friend of my son's put some fairly deep surface scratches in my then-new iPad 3 playing Fruit Ninja.
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This may be something to invest in

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DZLP1TQ?cache=1391091755&pi=SY200_QL40#ref=mp_s_a_1_2
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
BornAgainApple said:
That's a sealer, not a scratch filler/remover (which only work well with plastics btw), kinda like locking the barn door after the horse got out. I just never let the kid near my iPad again.
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This website begs to differ....

www.accessorygeeks.com/displex-touch-display-polish-scratch-remover.html?utm_source=shopping&utm_medium=comparisonshopping&utm_term=UNIVERSAL&utm_campaign=TOOL&utm_content=DISPLEX-TOUCH
 
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