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...