Apple's Move to Revolutionize Sapphire Manufacturing Likely to Leave Competitors Behind

[jonahhh]

wow lol a lot of missing the point, imo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire#Use_as_substrate_for_semiconducting_circuits

The reason for choosing wafers of artificial sapphire, rather than some other substance, for these substrates is that sapphire has a quite low conductivity for electricity, but a much-higher conductivity for heat. Thus, sapphire provides good electrical insulation, while at the same time doing a good job at helping to conduct away the significant heat that is generated in all operating integrated circuits.

The use of the sapphire material significantly reduces the cost, because it has about one-seventh the cost of germanium

also they make (some) bullet proof glass with sapphire laminate. so reports of fragility are overstating it a bit, i think.

if nothing else, if they were able to get the costs down it would make a better removable and replaceable screen protector rather than those bits of plastic people stick on or the over priced 3rd party cases people get now because it'd be mostly transparent in use. ...and if apple's smart they'd take the broken screen, recycle it and sell it back to someone else.

tbh, a macbook that i could also use as a shield (over my back as i run away! lol) as an american sadly has some appeal to it. although the brits could just as well stop knives.

so yeah, i think sapphire has a lot more interesting applications than the screen. my understanding is that it would be lighter used in place of the aluminum on the macbook or iOS devices and remove more heat, but honestly i can't find info to back that up. anyone?

 

[Ahheck01]

That really doesn't make a lick of sense.

1) there is nothing plasticky about the ipads, since, there's no plastic. Their screens are glass.

2) sapphire glass is still glass, and won't make the screen "feel" any more premium to you the user.

Put an iPad 1,2,3 or 4 next to and iPad air and tap the screens of each. There is noticeable flex to the air, and none for any of the previous ones.

 

[vvswarup]

NFC is not just for paying. There are many uses. S-beam, automation with tags, sharing etc. Apple TouchID can be used for so many things but as it is now it is so limited. Does it mean TouchID is also a total flop?

Such familiar rally call by Apple fans - "I can't have it so I don't need it". I bet you once touted TouchID as something magical just because Iphone has it and others dont.

I agree that NFC is used not just for paying but that's not relevant. What's relevant is people's use of the capabilities of a feature relative to the capabilities that the manufacturer has implemented. My argument has been that the manufacturer should implement features that users are likely to take advantage of. It doesn't do any good for a feature to have several capabilities but not be very useful to customers. Touch ID is limited but it is not a flop. Whatever capabilities it does have are being used to the maximum.

My daughter uses NFC to pay all the time.

Her husband uses NFC tags to change his phone behavior when he get in his car.

They both use NFC to exchange photos, websites, directions.

Just because everyone doesn't use a feature, does not make it useless. Every smartphone has features that not everyone uses.

I see that on a daily basis.

Well, not everyone is paying with a smartphone. Some people pay with a NFC credit/debit card.

Yes, not everyone uses a feature. But a manufacturer's resources are limited. IMO, it's better to focus on features that are likely to be the popular among customers.