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

[AppleHater]

Yep. For whatever reason, Apple has never allowed Corning to acknowledge their relationship.

But Apple does use gorilla glass?

 

[2457282]

All the drop test look like the phone is falling flat on it's "face". My experience is that the problem is when the phone falls and hits the ground on the corner or edge of the phone. That seems to create the most damage. I would like to see those tests.

 

[Patriot24]

But Apple does use gorilla glass?

Correct. To my knowledge, iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches all utilize Gorilla Glass.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

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)?

Nothing has really changed. They're never outright admitted they use Gorilla Glass even if they do.

 

[aliensporebomb]

Yep

Apple has always had a sort of pride in exhibiting their devices as produced entirely by then even though some of the internals are obviously off the shelf components by other companies. That's why you don't see them touting Gorilla Glass. Looks like a great upgrade on the glass formula though!

 

[Patriot24]

Nothing has really changed. They're never outright admitted they use Gorilla Glass even if they do.

Right. I'm just curious if "Ion Strengthened Glass" really means anything in relation to the product in this article.

 

[duffman9000]

"......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#

Yup. I've seen this happen. Dang road debris!!

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I went to Corning gorilla glass website and Apple isn't listed as a device using gorilla glass, hmm...

Apple likes to keep their suppliers a secret. A company I worked for two years ago produces a lot of the lab equipment that Apple uses, but they never let us list them as our customer, even though they were our largest one.

 

[gsmornot]

Corning should get these things whipped up real quick and send them to the stores so that when you have your display replaced your replacement will be stronger than what you had before. No need to wait a whole generation of devices to make use of what we have available now.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

80% still sounds like a real ****** survival rate.

 

[bbyrdhouse]

... 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. ...

That doggone sandpaper gets me every single time. I mean I am walking along and my phone slips from my hand and lands on that sandpaper and shatters my screen.

Why, once I was in my kitchen and accidentally knocked my wifes phone off of the bar and it would have been safe if it had just landed on the corner of the chair but that big o'le piece of sand paper we had sitting there cause the screen to shatter.

 

[ziggie216]

1 meter.. thats a child dropping a phone.

 

[macduke]

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 went to Corning gorilla glass website and Apple isn't listed as a device using gorilla glass, hmm...

Yep. For whatever reason, Apple has never allowed Corning to acknowledge their relationship.

Apple doesn't admit to it because Apple doesn't want to tie their brand name to another brand name. All other components in Apple products are just components and several of them come from multiple manufacturers. Otherwise the Retina Display would become the Sharp Aquos HD+ Display, or the A8X would become the Samsung Galaxy Trifecta Xtreme Processor. Apple doesn't want to be tied to Gorilla Glass or people would start calling it the Gorilla Glass display. If Apple moves away from GG then people might think that the new display is inferior since Corning has a dominant market position.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

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.

As others have pointed out, this sounds like an incredibly dumb statement. I went into the press release so that I could share the exact statement with my peers and guess what? Not a single mention of sandpaper in the entire thing. Here's the corresponding statement as it appears in the press release:

The scientists used the new methods to drop devices face down from one meter, such that the cover glass directly contacted a rough surface. They found:

• 
  Gorilla Glass 4 survives up to 80 percent of the time

Not sure where MacRumors got sandpaper from, but it definitely wasn't from the press release.

 

[Thunderhawks]

FINALLY. Now my iPhone will survive all of those drops onto inconveniently placed sandpaper while I'm running around town.

Just make sure you only walk where they have 600 grit sandpaper on the ground.

 

[XboxMySocks]

dropped onto gravel or onto concrete or pavement that has tiny rocks.

... and what exactly do you think sandpaper is made of?

 

[NachoGrande]

Can they make it so my pocket lint doesn't scratch it. That's all I ask....

 

[cfedu]

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.

The opposite of rough is smooth, a pillow is not smooth it is soft. I understood it as a hard rough surface (asphalt, rough conrete) is worse than a hard smooth surface (polished granite, polished concrete)

 

[coolspot18]

What we need is corner drop protection ... most falls hit a corner - very few drops land face first.

 

[Iconoclysm]

But Apple does use gorilla glass?

Of course they do, they built two huge facilities in Asia for Corning to create the glass used in the iPhones. I believe that this is why they don't use the Gorilla Glass branding, because they're actually a co-manufacturer of it.

 

[kcmac]

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.

Anti-grav. Brilliant! Haha. a hovering phone. We could have fun with that for hours.

 

[Iconoclysm]

1 meter.. thats a child dropping a phone.

Most children are barely a meter tall.

Combine this with those who think quartz sandpaper on a metal plate isn't as hard as asphalt and I'm just smh.

----------

Apple doesn't admit to it because Apple doesn't want to tie their brand name to another brand name. All other components in Apple products are just components and several of them come from multiple manufacturers. Otherwise the Retina Display would become the Sharp Aquos HD+ Display, or the A8X would become the Samsung Galaxy Trifecta Xtreme Processor. Apple doesn't want to be tied to Gorilla Glass or people would start calling it the Gorilla Glass display. If Apple moves away from GG then people might think that the new display is inferior since Corning has a dominant market position.

You are supremely misinformed about the Retina Display and A series processors.

 

[Jsameds]

1 meter.. thats a child dropping a phone.

You hold your phone at head height, do you?

 

[nostaws]

If this glass and a new sony camera make it into the next iphone, I'll upgrade my 5s for sure.

 

[jayducharme]

That's the problem. There is no such known material.

i wonder if anyone is doing work on a more durable plexiglass. Plastic won't shatter easily, but it scratches. Perhaps that's worth exploring.