Former GT Employee Appears to Confirm Apple's Plans for Sapphire Display Covers

[TechViking]

To me the fact that he left there in January means lots of things could have changed since then.

Paul Matthews are still listed on Linkedin as being a member of the sapphire team.

And where did he leave? He left to work at Applied Materials. A company apparently heavily involved in the making of Apple's products:

http://mashable.com/2012/04/02/applied-materials-ipad/

Applied Materials are, among other things, also making tools to construct solar panels.

 

[casperes1996]

If Steve had seen this

If Steve Jobs had seen this, this GT guy would've been dead... Or at least fired/sanctioned by Apple.

 

[Danx7777]

I was posting about this last night after a great find by Bgshanghai on the Contrarian message board. Really amazing analytical data and conversations there.

To address some comments here: the profile seems real. He is endorsed by former and current GTAT executives, a manager at TSMC and current team members for Sapphire.

Yes, current! Although the company move, the small print still quotes he is a member of the sapphire production team and lists the team members. To fake this profile you'd have to fake every one else's profile at GTAT to endorse this guy.

The cover type is vague, probably why he can post it. But yes, it does allude to phones.

To wrap it up more over it states he increased boule production (not word for word) by 50% and reduced cost by 40%

Feel free to see yourselves. His profile is public at Paul Matthews. He posted it, so it becomes public knowledge and presumably doesn't care if people check and see.

 

[apolloa]

The only way they will have been able to sell the idea to Apple is to have solved the shattering issue. As I understand sapphire glass is a lot more prone to shattering, not a problem for a watch size screen and it offers superior scratch resistance, but they also cost more.
Anyway I guess the whole standard glass shattering issue with dropped devices, was the reason most devices including Apples use Gorilla Glass, because of its resistance to shattering.
So it will be interesting to see if they have solved the issue for screens of a phone size, if they do use sapphire glass in the iPhones.

 

[doelcm82]

I thought Apple dropped Sapphire as a screen cover due to drop test failures?

You're thinking it wrong.

 

[madsci954]

Wait wasn't there an article a few days ago saying that there wouldn't be sapphire?
And a few days before that a report with confirming sapphire?
And a few days before that one with saying some would and some wouldn't have?
And before that one with only the 5.5'' model getting it?
And one before that saying that this was only for the watch?

Hm...

I'm calling it Schrödinger's Tech. Until it is officially announced, it both exists and doesn't exist.

 

[SactoGuy18]

Here's my guess: the sapphire display cover will be on the 5.5" iPhone 6 (aka iPhone 6L or iPhone Air). The 4.7" iPhone 6 will use Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

 

[MentalFloss]

Anyone else spot the Macintosh in the pic?

Image

I thought at first it was an iPod classic.

 

[myers024]

These sapphire rumours has been up and down more often than Miley Cyrus' underwear.

How long you been waiting to say that.

 

[Jsameds]

How long you been waiting to say that.

Since she became a sl*t.

 

[pankajdoharey]

Silicon On Sapphire

There are numerous uses of sapphire , one of the prime uses of sapphire is in communication chips using Silicon on Sapphire technology to make better insulated high frequency communication chips. Which is another very important uses of tehh material. Why doesn't anyone talk about that ?

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

If Steve Jobs had seen this, this GT guy would've been dead... Or at least fired/sanctioned by Apple.

He does not work for Apple. Read the article!

 

[tennisproha]

that's some digging! way to find this guy.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

There are numerous uses of sapphire , one of the prime uses of sapphire is in communication chips using Silicon on Sapphire technology to make better insulated high frequency communication chips. Which is another very important uses of tehh material. Why doesn't anyone talk about that ?

Because Apple is not a manufacturer of "high frequency communication chips".

 

[bobob]

These sapphire rumours has been up and down more often than Miley Cyrus' underwear.

To be fair, most people take take underwear off and put underwear on every day. Even more if they're changing into a bathing suit. Plus, Miley Cyrus is a performer and probably has to change into a lot of outfits, which may involve taking off her underwear.

Could joshdammit be the username for Drax the Destroyer?

 

[kdarling]

No, it is not the standard. It is lighter and more scratch resistant than standard glass.

Sapphire is heavier than glass, by almost 70%. (~4 g/cm3 vs ~2.5 g/cm3)

As a side note, the sapphire piece used in watch crystals is up to 12 times thicker than the GG layer (0.5mm) that's used on smartphones.

 

[33man]

we all know that the 6S will have sapphire. That is what the S stands for

Nope, the next will be 6B (Battery)

 

[taptic]

Honestly... I don't know why everyone is so tuned in to sapphire on the iPhone. It would be nice, but if the iWatch comes out its pretty obvious it's going to be on there. Watches get scratched up real easy...

 

[Milese3]

I think it's time.

 

[Jazper]

To be fair, Apple implemented the Touch ID pretty fast, well I presume they where talking to the company before they bought it - but the turn-around after buying it seems quick, so it's definitely possible.

I predict that if this is going to be released on Tuesday, it will be an additional option rather than implemented in all of the devices - it seems to expensive and hopefully Apple will appreciate not everyone needs more scratch resistant phones if they take good care of it etc.

 

[BarryL]

I think it's time.

We all do, but remember Apple isn't an early adopter on this stuff. They'll let Samsung screw it up first!!

 

[pocketdoc]

To quote Rumsfeld, we have the Known Known, the Known Unknown and the Unknown Unknown...

Apple owns GTA, so there is no "deal" between the two.

The Kyocera VZW has a sapphire screen and the guy dropped it, threw it against a brick wall, and tried to scratch it with everything. The only thing that damaged it was dropping it on a sharp object. It make a small scratch. Did not shatter.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/02/kyocera-brigadier-sapphire-screen/

I would expect Apple to somehow laminate it so that it is less likely to shatter. Check this out. From GTA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLwARB1qlI4&feature=youtu.be

That is what AppleCare is for anyway.

Cannot wait until Tuesday. I need to stop reading the "rumors and leaks". Driving me crazy!!

 

[CrazyForApple]

They will have sapphire, they won't have sapphire, only some iPhones will have sapphire. I'm sick of this, we will just find out this Tuesday.

 

[Aniseedvan]

Thinner and lighter trackpads for the MBA & rMBP are also possible. Or they replace the MBA keyboard with a touchscreen surface (thinner than the current keyboard).

Please, no touch keyboard on an MBA - keep that to "mainly" consumption devices like iPads please...

 

[casperes1996]

...

He does not work for Apple. Read the article!

Thank you, I was fully aware of this when I wrote my comment. Doesn't matter. Surely Apple has an agreement with GT that means he's not allowed to go around talking about un-announced Apple things