Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
So because of rumors that may not have ANY truth to them at all you set your exceptions so high you will not buy with out it... Don't believe everything this could be for the camera and touch ID like apple has been doing.

If Air 2 doesn't have sapphire I'll just get the lower priced Air 1 because there would be no incentive to get basically the same product (Air 2) with higher price.
 
Apple partnered with materials manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies to build a sapphire production plant in Arizona and is working on mass producing the material for use in its iPhone lineup and possibly the iWatch. Any advancements the company makes in sapphire production to make it more affordable and to scale its manufacturing output to support hundreds of millions of devices per year will stay within the walls of Apple and GT.
Wrong....the plant was already there. It was a solar panel manufacturing plant. The Apple and GT bought the existing plant.......sorry to nitpiick but get the fact straight....
 
This is probably the most interesting thing I have seen from Apple in years.

We'll have to see. It maybe a good thing or it might be a gimmick. Apple is known for using exotic stuff just to be able to say that their products are unique (whether there is a real benefit to it or not).

Besides it looks like Gorilla Glass 3 (not used by Apple) is pretty good too so the use of sapphire it will not be a clear win for Apple. There will be trade-offs (higher cost, brittle etc.) and it is not clear what the consumer is going to prefer.
 
If sapphire is brittle and breaks easily, I'm not understanding why it is such a breakthrough for phone screens. You never hear people complain about scratching their phone screens, but you see plenty of cracked screens. :confused:

Have a Movado with a sapphire crystal. I've worn it for about 5 years, and I am extremely hard on it. No scratches. No cracks.
 
Who really needs a DUAL-CORE processor? My Pentium 4 is just fine. Pff.

Your post is hilarious.

i5 today costs as much today as the DUAL-CORE used to cost when it came out. Wrong analogy.

They don't seem to know a lot about hardware. I am sure Sapphire will be a useless feature people would gladly pay $200 more to get.
 
PS Please Apple, add waterproofing too!!! I did once drop a phone in a rock pool and have the phone with me in the kitchen!

Apple probably won't make it water resistant because they'd have to cover the lightning port and they hate covering ports.
 
I bet you that iPhone 6 will not have Sapphire based display (Hope I am wrong). It's most likely for iWatch. Saphhire is quite expensive and would be difficult to keep the same price. For a solid Sapphire display perhaps 2015 if we are lucky!
 
Yeah, well cars sound cool and are supposed to be really practical. It is a benefit for people who are lazy. But for people who actually walk, they're unnecessary. :rolleyes:

Honestly though -- how can a more durable phone be a bad thing? If you want your phone made out glass and virgins' tears because you're too perfect to drop it, that's fine -- but don't take the high-ground attitude about it.

Ha, well played! LOL

There is no way Apple will be able to please everybody in this game unless everyone gets their toys for free. Or maybe even then, "shameless copycats are better!"
 
Dear Apple,

You win. Do not make it too beautiful or too hard for us to copy.

Sincerely sorry,
Shamesung
 
Back

And also consider that they could return to something similar to the 4 and put glass on the back. The 4 and 4s are still one of the best looking phones ever made.
 
This is why I don't believe for a second the screens will cost $260 as reported yesterday. Apple wouldn't have invested so much in such an unusable tech. They Obviously have a plan.
 
PS Please Apple, add waterproofing too!!! I did once drop a phone in a rock pool and have the phone with me in the kitchen!
serious questions: apple would be copying samsung if they did that, right?

Gorilla Glass can crack and so can Sapphire Glass. If Sapphire Glass can crack (just like Gorilla Glass) why not use it since it's ALSO scratch/scuff resistant? Scratches and scuffs are very common on iPhones.

gorilla glass is scratch resistant as well. apple just doesnt want to share profits with another company, rightfully so i guess.

Screen protector companies are going to hate apple
no, quite the opposite, since everyone will want to protects its screen even more. even if they market is as "unbreakable" and "unscratchable", people will put protectors on.

If the next iPhone [...] has a shatter proof/crack proof screen,
not gonna happen

The next iPad better have sapphire. Or else I'm not buying.
i hope thats a joke, otherwise shows the perfect example of a typical superficial apple user.

Dear Apple,

You win. Do not make it too beautiful or too hard for us to copy.

Sincerely sorry,
Shamesung
huehueheu, lets masturbate because you wrote an anti-samsung comment!
 
Smart move and worthwhile investment judging by all the hairline scratches I have on my iPhone and HTC. The competition can't easily copy that feature, just like Touch ID.

If Apple hadn't purchased Authentec, I think everyone knows that Samsung would have used the same solution within a year or so.
 
We'll have to see. It maybe a good thing or it might be a gimmick. Apple is known for using exotic stuff just to be able to say that their products are unique (whether there is a real benefit to it or not).

Besides it looks like Gorilla Glass 3 (not used by Apple) is pretty good too so the use of sapphire it will not be a clear win for Apple. There will be trade-offs (higher cost, brittle etc.) and it is not clear what the consumer is going to prefer.

In use, the little scratches on our phones doesn't make much difference. But when the screen is off they are very noticeable. I believe that will make the iPhone look better and then help with sales. Thing of all the times everyone's phone is sitting on a table at a bar or dinner. If the iPhone looks better without scuffs and scratches, that is going to help with sales a bit.

But it is also going to look great on a spec sheet. "Sapphire". Wow, it is almost like getting a diamond engagement ring. :D
 
It sounds cool and its's suppose to be really durable. It is a benefit for people who abuse their phones. But for people who actually take care of their phones it is unnecessary.

The glass on my iPhone 5 is the most durable part of my phone. You should see the aluminum!!!! I had to put a belkin squishy case that covers everything except the screen, and it looks like a brand new phone.

For full disclosure, I did have my screen replaced, but that's because it went flying off my handlebars. However, the only damage to the screen was the actual breakage. The rest of the screen was in perfect condition. I've had my new screen for about 5 months I think and with a good cleaning it looks like it did when I had it replaced.

So yeah, if Sapphire can make it even more scratch resistant, I'm all for that. But I don't want to pay $$$ more for it. I'm fine with Gorilla Glass.
 
It's like retina display on a MacBook. It is really not necessary except for jacking up the price. Gorilla glass is just fine. So is the resolution on non-retina MacBooks.

What price has it jacked up?

CRT monitors were also just fine... spinning hard drives were just fine, USB 2.0 was just fine, the core2duo was just fine, entering your password and no touch id is just fine... I don't think there is anything you can't say that wasn't 'just fine' before it was updated or improved upon.
 
If the next iPhone is resistant to water damage and has a shatter proof/crack proof screen, that will be awesome. Won't need to get AppleCare+ anymore, and it will be a real competitive advantage.

Is Sapphire really scratch proof though? I don't see any scratches on my iPhone lens but thats because its super tiny too. I wonder if it really holds up on a large display... anyone care to weigh in?

Hard to see how you appear to take for granted or look forward to/hope this news means a crack/shatter proof display when it has been pointed out many times that sapphire glass is apparently inherently more brittle and prone to cracking/shattering than the current Gorilla glass material...

...and then proceed to question the one area where sapphire glass is superior to current materials? Sapphire glass is not scratch proof, but it is more scratch resistant than Gorilla glass, and also more brittle and less flexible for a given thickness, according to the limited information I can gather.

I can't see how this could be a for anything else than the rumoured iWatch or iBand or other wearable segment device.

The only way it would make real financial sense for a touch display for an iPhone or iPad is if it brings something else to the table besides scratch resistance. Maybe they have found a way to make it three time more oleophobic during the manufacturing process than the current post-treated glass method, for example? I know that on my phone and iPad, fingerprints and smears from using virtual joypads, etc are much more annoying than scratches, which I have yet to encounter on any of my devices. However, I have had to repair a shattered screen on my daughter's iPad and I don't see how sapphire would help with that problem - more like actually worsen it because it would make repair costs increase.

As for Notebooks, sapphire actually seems like an inferior material, lesser light passthrough at a given thickness, etc. and notebook screens being less prone to scratching inherently because they are closed and protected during transport.

Who knows - maybe I am totally wrong, but another thing I am skeptic about is posters advocating putting a very thin layer of sapphire glass on top of the display. Wouldn't that make the display ultra sensitive to hairline cracks and spidering cracks etc.?? Glad to be corrected in I'm of base there.

Don't really get the advantage of using it for touch pads on notebooks either. Wouldn't be able to notice a scratch on that surface as it is now.

It is a mystery to me, but I'm sure it will all make sense when the use for the sapphire is revealed later this year...
 
...
But it is also going to look great on a spec sheet. "Sapphire". Wow, it is almost like getting a diamond engagement ring. :D

Yeah... It depends. Many (most?) people probably do not know about sapphire (not that many people own Rolex). Besides, some may be intrigued by Gorilla Glass more than by Sapphire ;) It could be a generational and gender thing.
 
If sapphire is brittle and breaks easily, I'm not understanding why it is such a breakthrough for phone screens. You never hear people complain about scratching their phone screens, but you see plenty of cracked screens. :confused:

Here at work the clients are always opening up new tickets because of the Glass on all IOS devices are shattering or cracking. I don't see Sapphire and a long term solution.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.