I'm not sure why analyists keep talking about sapphire screens for iPhones. Seems unpractical to me. I think it'll be used on their wearable/iWatch instead (first). Makes the most sense to test this new process/material on a smaller size/smaller quantity device, and then if it works well bring it up to the iPhone.
Well, I've definitely been one of the Sapphire iPhone naysayers, but if they
can get the yields as high as the article suggests, then it
might make sense. Here's the thing though, in order to make that much usable sapphire, you'd end up with massive amounts of sapphire that would only be usable for much smaller applications. I don't really think Apple wants to get into the sapphire selling business, but maybe they'll have enough other smaller products to use in Apple's product line-up to make good use of the smaller slices of crystal.
Why would a sapphire crystal screen be impractical? It hardly needs to be tested, it's been used for watch crystals for decades. It's a known entity. It's not an experimental substance.
Sapphire, like any manufactured crystal, comes in a nice big block, but that doesn't mean the whole block is usable in whatever size you want. There are imperfections, and getting a nice big perfect piece like a 4" screen is usually pretty difficult. Most usable slices are going to be a lot smaller. Getting good yields is why sapphire screens for an iPhone is impractical. Apple just sells too many iPhones for it to be cost effective. Now, it's possible Apple's sapphire plant will produce much better yields than ever seen before. But without a new process that produces much higher yields, it's just too expensive.
Which is why I, and many other people, believe that the sapphire is for an iWatch or other much smaller applications. You can get much greater yields and the overall costs are a lot lower. Perhaps, in time, improvements in the manufacturing process, along with additional factories, Apple will be able to turn out enough sapphire in a large enough size to get iPhone sapphire screens. But I certainly wouldn't expect them to be on the next generation iPhone. They absolutely won't be on iPads like some rumors have claimed (that's insanity).
Apple also needs to weight the pros and cons for their material choices. Sapphire as a material makes a heck of a lot more sense for something like a watch, a fingerprint sensor, or a camera lens, because scratches on those would be terrible, and may be more likely to get scratched without such a hard material like sapphire. An iPhone screen doesn't really need to optimize for scratch resistance, so a material like Gorilla Glass might be the better choice.
Has anyone considered that the Sapphire plant may be used to produce a Watch product?
There have been reports that apple has been inquiring with some Swiss watch makers.
Most people, except a few wacky analysts pulling rumors out of their butts, believed Tim Cook when he said that the sapphire plant is for a new product. That would seem to rule out iPhone screens, and considering how common sapphire is for high end watch faces, sapphire for an iWatch makes perfect sense.
If you want an Apple logo you can also start a flashmob by sticking an Apple sticker that came with your Mac to the door of this plant )
