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Apple's New Manufacturing Partner, GT Advanced, Uses Particle Accelerator to Cut Sapphire Glass Production Costs
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Remove the last two words from that headline and it would be even more awesome.
Edit: Actually it would mean the same thing...
Edit: Actually it would mean the same thing...
Man, I thought the individualized pick-and-place of the glass on the iPhone 5 was cool. ********** science. Please fund science research.
Expecting Apple to get the cost down on sapphire laminated displays tenfold with this tech. They are also patenting ways to make it anti-reflective and anti-smudge making the screen work perfectly in sun reflections and without leaving fat marks when using greasy fingers. Those patents are related to this new way of laminating sapphire for strength.
It will cut costs and improve overall quality while adding new features like anti reflection and anti smudge, I would not be surprised if they scale this up big time to manage to do 65" UHD displays with the same tech at maybe $140-150 per display in cost.
It will cut costs and improve overall quality while adding new features like anti reflection and anti smudge, I would not be surprised if they scale this up big time to manage to do 65" UHD displays with the same tech at maybe $140-150 per display in cost.
I would bet the cost is more, but there are no saws to replace. Hydrogen is in pretty good supply.Pretty amazing innovation for a company that can't innovate anymore. Would love to see how much stronger sapphire is then gorilla glass.
Curious, I never knew GT Advanced had a reputation for lack of innovation. Or were you guys attributing their innovative use of a particle accelerator to Apple?
*shifting gears* I wonder if it will bond to Gorilla Glass to get the best of both worlds?
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Curious, I never knew GT Advanced had a reputation for lack of innovation. Or were you guys attributing their innovative use of a particle accelerator to Apple?
*shifting gears* I wonder if it will bond to Gorilla Glass to get the best of both worlds?
Came here to say the same thing, you guys know that this has nothing to do with apple, except for the fact that apple is funding the operation, right???
"GT expects to see its gross margins to drop significantly as sapphire glass production rises -- as costs go down -- but the overall volume will more than make up for it."
I always thought margins went up when costs went down. Go figure.
I always thought margins went up when costs went down. Go figure.
My mom was a nurse. I noticed that her watch had a nearly unreadable face due to years of scratches in the workplace.
I bought her a Movado watch with Sapphire crystal better part of 10 years ago.
Still scratch free. It is an incredible material.
(but the gold plate is getting thin!)
I bought her a Movado watch with Sapphire crystal better part of 10 years ago.
Still scratch free. It is an incredible material.
(but the gold plate is getting thin!)
I think its more Star Trek tech, even though it sounds like old fashioned Star Wars.
I can see how the face of the watch can get scratched through hundreds of little hits to something or another during the year, but I have not seen anybody complain about scratches on their phone screens, even from those who do not use cases. Shattered glass is far more common than scratched ones. Is Sapphire more resistant to shattering, as well as scratches?
So what we're going to wind up with is a thin shield of sapphire over gorilla glass for the best of both worlds.
This is an improvement.
This is an improvement.
I think this is really interesting technology, but the end result of a sapphire screen iPhone is not a smart move.
The glass used on the iPhone is scratch resistant enough. Sapphire will only make the iPhone more prone to scattering. And will probably cost more to repair.
Unless apple has a way to make sure when you drop your phone that the screen doesn't break easily I don't see the use case of using this.
On the other hand I think sapphire screens are perfect for watches which will almost never get dropped and will get scratched more often.
The glass used on the iPhone is scratch resistant enough. Sapphire will only make the iPhone more prone to scattering. And will probably cost more to repair.
Unless apple has a way to make sure when you drop your phone that the screen doesn't break easily I don't see the use case of using this.
On the other hand I think sapphire screens are perfect for watches which will almost never get dropped and will get scratched more often.