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Corning's Gorilla Glass 4 Promises Stronger Protection for Falls Onto Rough Surfaces

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Apr 12, 2001
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Corning today unveiled its new Gorilla Glass 4, its next-generation glass production that is even more resistant than previous versions to glass shattering drops. According to Corning, the company extensively studied shattered screens to understand how and why they break.

gorilla-glass4.jpg
Corning scientists examined hundreds of broken devices and found that damage caused by sharp contact accounted for more than 70 percent of field failures. The scientists then developed new drop-test methods that simulate real-world break events, based on thousands of hours analyzing cover glass that had broken in the field or laboratory.
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The culmination of this testing was Gorilla Glass 4, which reportedly is two times stronger than competing products and can survive 80 percent of face-down falls onto rough surfaces such as sandpaper. The company also claims the glass retains most of its initial strength following a shatter-free fall.

Corning is long-time supplier for Apple, providing the Cupertino company with Gorilla Glass for its iPhone and iPad lineup. Apple considered using the scratch-resistant sapphire for its iPhone display, but its partnership with GT Advanced fell apart when the supplier declared bankruptcy earlier this year.

Corning says product shipments of Gorilla Glass 4 to customers are already underway, making it a strong candidate for inclusion on next year's iOS devices should sapphire remain an infeasible option.

Article Link: Corning's Gorilla Glass 4 Promises Stronger Protection for Falls Onto Rough Surfaces
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/20/corning-gorilla-glass-4/
But that means it's easier to scratch though right? If it's harder to shatter, it's easier to scratch. Sapphire moves towards the other end of the spectrum.
 
Another poster and I were just talking in another thread about the term "Ion Strengthened Glass" that Apple is using in its marketing of the iPhone 6/6+ and Apple Watch Sport.

I wonder if that has anything to do with Corning's new product, or if it is simply a marketing term they've come up with to avoid admitting that they use Gorilla Glass (as they historically have)?
 
I admire people like them, continue challenging to a higher standard.
This is an obvious contrast to the other supplier who sold out his own company.
 
MacRumors said:
The culmination of this testing was Gorilla Glass 4, which reportedly is two times stronger than competing products and can survive 80 percent of face-down falls onto rough surfaces such as sandpaper.
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FINALLY. Now my iPhone will survive all of those drops onto inconveniently placed sandpaper while I'm running around town.
 
I'm glad about this. At least from the outside (it's possible Apple has some super secret improvements to Sapphire we don't know about), Sapphire appears to be a marginal improvement (the increased scratchability makes this debatable. Personally, this is a negative, since I have not dropped my phone yet) for increased complications and costs (and worse environmental effects to boot).

Seems an unnecessary distraction.
 
I think that there is something to this idea of falls on to 'sharp' surfaces. My current phone survived countless falls on edge or side but one little fall (< 18") onto coarse blacktop popped it good.

When i examined the screen it was also scratched even though it fell flat and did not bounce. The fact that the asphalt scratched the phone in the process of the screen breaking seems to agree with the findings that Corning is describing.

Surface tension.
 
You know those little rocks found on the side of the street? The kind you see when exiting your car? Those little gravel/asphalt rocks can easily scratch a smartphone screen. Make the screen resist those kind of scratches.
 
macduke said:
FINALLY. Now my iPhone will survive all of those drops onto inconveniently placed sandpaper while I'm running around town.
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yeah I dont get why they did not put a piece of asphalt or concrete on the bottom of their fancy new machine...
 
Apple considered using the scratch-resistant sapphire for its iPhone display, but its partnership with GT Advanced fell apart when the supplier declared bankruptcy earlier this year.
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Great speculation there. We don't know if they considered it just for the Apple Watch. In typical Mac Rumors quality reporting the fact that someone may have said "What about sapphire?" and was immediately shot down and never thought about again is enough to write multiple articles about. :rolleyes:
 
The better they make the glass the happier I am. Definitely the "weakest" part of a smart phone.



:apple:
 
I was looking up images of sandpaper, when I found these inspirational words by Chris Colfer. I'm not sure how this relates to the story, but I thought it would be helpful to those with Samsung devices.
 

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I love how they only show woman dropping their phones. Also "sandpaper" to replace concrete as a "real world" substitute? That is laughable. Why not just test the drops on concrete? Thats sounds more "real world" to me.
 
"......can survive 80 percent of face-down falls onto rough surfaces such as sandpaper....."

Lol haha. Rough surfaces like sandpaper? Really?? I don't think that is the problem. It's more of a problem being dropped onto gravel or onto concrete or pavement that has tiny rocks. Rough like sandpaper?!?! Hahahahah#
 
what did we find? that the worst surfaces to drop your device are rough surfaces like the asphalt and concrete, and that those unforgiving drops were the critical issue.
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you think? i always thought that dropping your phone on to a pillow would be 10x more likely to break its glass than on the concrete...

that girl needs to go see a doctor. she seems to be having an issue with her basic motor skills when holding small objects.
 
I went to Corning gorilla glass website and Apple isn't listed as a device using gorilla glass, hmm...
 
trainwrecka said:
Show me the CORNER DROP test results. Figure out how to stop the spiderweb cracks.
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That's the problem. There is no such known material. Even screens made of diamond would shatter just as easily. The shatter-proof, scratch-proof transparent rectangle requires a whole new, breakthrough innovation much like the all-month battery. It's beyond anything that exists now at any price.

I suspect it will be easier to invent anti-gravity so that a future iDevice can sense that it's falling, activate the anti-grav and float in for a feather-soft landing. As "out there" as that sounds, the challenge involved is probably about the same.
 
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