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Apple Preparing for Massive Production of Devices with Sapphire Displays
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could someone with greater knowledge of sapphire/minerals/whatever please clarify: what's the difference between sapphire crystal and sapphire glass?
i've read reports indicating that Apple will make sapphire "crystal" displays, while other reports i've read indicate that Apple will make sapphire "glass" displays...i'm confused...is there a difference?
i've read reports indicating that Apple will make sapphire "crystal" displays, while other reports i've read indicate that Apple will make sapphire "glass" displays...i'm confused...is there a difference?
Not at all, but the question was about glare and curved screens can help reduce glare. I'm not advocating it though.
No. The synthetic sapphire is being "grown" in crystal form (boules) and then sliced into wafer thin "glass".
What's the recyclability factor on sapphire?
*Yes, I am aware it is glass, and glass is recyclable. I assumed the general MacRumors commentator was aware of this fact, however for those who sarcastically responded allow me to rephrase.
The sapphire process used in these rumored displays may require more energy to recycle the material depending on how the sapphire is truly implemented (either as a coating, shield, etc.). As these are rumors, my question was purely hypothetical and assumed readers would know that glass is a recyclable material.
Thank you
I don't understand -- why is that even relevant one way or the other?
Given the millions of electronics sold in a fiscal year, that's a lot of potential e-waste. I care, and so do a lot of others.
Argh, well, whatever it "is", natural materials should allow for recyclability (in theory).
Thanks!
Wow. So we should be hesitant to increase the quality and durability of a product because it may increase the energy usage in recycling? You're joking, right?
No, I'm not.
Ok, here we go.
I pass this along as I am passionate on this matter, I do not want to leave a caustic planet to my children, nor do I want to destroy the oceans and wildlife that are negatively impacted by our out of control consumerism and waste. I know this is a long post, but it's a quick read and so important to all of us. Please take the moment
Every year, Americans throw away enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times (http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html). Plastic produces more waste from recycling and general consumer discard. Recycling produces more pollutants, including chemical stews when breaking down different products.
Recycling is not cost-efficient and annually results in a net loss. It costs $50-60 to landfill a ton versus $150+/- to recycle. Only the recycling of aluminum really makes any money. Reclaiming metals is feasible and fairly easy, whereas plastics and paper are expensive, wasteful and overly difficult. The biggest disadvantage to recycling is that it gives the consuming public a false sense of 'security'; a sense that they're doing something to benefit the environment. recycling can be bad for the environment. In fact, except for materials like metal and some glass, recycling is almost always bad for the environment. One of the best places to start is with a report from Perc.org, called the Eight Great Myths of Recycling. "One argument made for recycling notes that we live on a finite planet. With a growing population, we must, it seems, run out of resources."
E-waste is a major issue, especially with plastics. There are 2 plastic islands the size of Texas, one in the Pacific Ocean - the "Great Pacific garbage patch"and one in the Indian Ocean and more being discovered almost monthly.
Charles Moore - TED discussion on plastic - 7 minutes but alarming facts on plastic toxicity and huge annual increases in waste.
As Japan has serious garbage issues, a Japanese scientist invented a machine that breaks any plastic down into oil! I've mentioned the on MacRumors before as it is an issue the tech industry needs to take into serious consideration. This device is no larger than a microwave and uses less energy than a coffee maker. Read and watch the short 5 min video, if for nothing else than the tech as it's amazing. Hoping quick mainstream adoption lowers the $10k price tag quickly enough for residential use and can make up for its price by reusing the oil. Used in large industrial recycling centers would be amazing!
Plastic to oil fantastic
Aluminum is currently the best material for mass production in products, especially tech due to e-waste. Bauxite being the most common aluminum ore. Refinement uses much less energy to produce, and is improving with recent advancements, especially compared to the Hall-Héoult Process (the major industrial process aluminum extraction). Aluminum is theoretically 100% recyclable without any loss of its natural qualities and requires only 5% of the energy used to produce aluminum from ore, though a significant part (up to 15% of the input material) is lost as dross (ash-like oxide). Recycled aluminum is known as secondary aluminum, but maintains the same physical properties as primary aluminum. Secondary aluminum is produced in a wide range of formats and is employed in 80% of alloy injections. The process produces aluminum billets, together with a highly complex waste material, which can be reused as a filler in asphalt and concrete.
To answer your question, that is why it is important. I mean this sincerely, not sarcastically, read up on the matter, do some research - the statistics are alarming but hopeful if all of us work together.
If you got this far, thank you. Collectively we can make a difference in plastic usage by "voting with our dollars". We don't need more waste; plastic in tech produces much more waste (and chemical waste from wires, displays, etc) than other naturally occurring metals and smelting. It's great Apple is trying to produce a lower cost iPhone, however plastic shouldn't be much cheaper than smelting aluminum, especially as Apple has dedicated plants for product shells using green energy.
shipping container = 20' x 10' x 8' = 1600 cubic feet of space
iphone 6 sapphire screen layer = 2.5" x 5" x 1/32" (probably not that thick) = 4,423 screens per cubic foot
= 70,768,000 screens per shipping container.
a new industrial design and a larger iPhone?
One of the purposes of sapphire display is to make the bezels as slim as possible while the whole frame of the phone still being solid enough, I assume?
In other words, a new industrial design is definitely coming, while a larger iPhone is extremely likely, isn't it?
One of the purposes of sapphire display is to make the bezels as slim as possible while the whole frame of the phone still being solid enough, I assume?
In other words, a new industrial design is definitely coming, while a larger iPhone is extremely likely, isn't it?
Unacceptable. I demand a display made of diamond.
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All this sapphire must be for the new thunderbolt displays.
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All this sapphire must be for the new thunderbolt displays.
They are far ahead in software, not sure where you get your misinformation.
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Yeah I heard that too. From a gorilla glass rep. Lol. Real life tests > anything you are told by reps.
massive ? should be interesting, particularly, only a few selects products as of now, only have sapphire ...
Like anything, time will tell how good it actually is.
"Gorilla Glass" was though to be durable as scratch resistant as well, but ok what happened to that.
These new ideas are only "resistant" providing you don't do this ... or don't do that.
This is, until a new product like sapphire comes out, where "oh look, now will play the same game again as being resistant on all of the reason's we mentioned about previously"
Its a walk in the park..
Like anything, time will tell how good it actually is.
"Gorilla Glass" was though to be durable as scratch resistant as well, but ok what happened to that.
These new ideas are only "resistant" providing you don't do this ... or don't do that.
This is, until a new product like sapphire comes out, where "oh look, now will play the same game again as being resistant on all of the reason's we mentioned about previously"
Its a walk in the park..
I think the whole point of this article is that 1000 sapphire furnaces that apple bought is way more than needed for an iwatch introduction, which is way smaller screen and way less than 150 million units in a year.
I think they say 2nd hardest naturally occurring on earth next to diamond, all those ones you listed are synthetic things we made in a lab, right?
Embedded energy
I've started to wonder more and more how much energy goes into the production of a single iPhone, and when I first started reading about sapphire furnaces I wondered how much energy is going into the production of sapphire.
I wish Apple designed their products with an even longer lifespan.
I wish the Internet didn't keep making our computers NEED to be faster, when in actuality we hardly use our computers to their full potential more than once or twice a month, or year, or ever.
Obviously the power users on this site (like myself) will tell me they do a lot, which I know people do, but I just feel we really took a wrong turn somewhere in the 90s.
Not that it wasn't the first wrong turn humanity has made.
I've started to wonder more and more how much energy goes into the production of a single iPhone, and when I first started reading about sapphire furnaces I wondered how much energy is going into the production of sapphire.
I wish Apple designed their products with an even longer lifespan.
I wish the Internet didn't keep making our computers NEED to be faster, when in actuality we hardly use our computers to their full potential more than once or twice a month, or year, or ever.
Obviously the power users on this site (like myself) will tell me they do a lot, which I know people do, but I just feel we really took a wrong turn somewhere in the 90s.
Not that it wasn't the first wrong turn humanity has made.
Same here, but that is because shattered screens are lot easier to see then the ones with scratches. I have seen a dude sat next to me on a tram last evening, half of his iPhone 5 was totally shattered and he was still playing game on it. I bet if it had just a scratch I would have not even noticed.