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Future Smartphone Displays May Use Sapphire Instead of Glass

daneoni said:
Sweet. My watch has a sapphire face and whilst there are scratches all over the bracelet, the face is still pristine. Problem with sapphire on a phone is that although scratch resistant, it easily shatters.
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That would be my concern. I'd be more worried about shattering than scratches; so I'd like to know if sapphire crystal will shatter more easily.

IME, the iPhone 4 was far more fragile than the 3G/3GS design/material. I don't know about the iPhone 5, but the last thing I'd want is a phone more likely to shatter.
 
Good. Anyone who doesn't act effing ridiculous and treat their iPhone like a precious new born baby know it will eventually accumulate many scratches.
 
The other thing about sapphire vs Gorilla Glass it it's ability to "give." Corning has done amazing things with how much bend there is before a break which, though sometimes the phone structure itself may not allow it to go as far as it can, I do not believe sapphire can do at this point.

That transparent aluminum is interesting though, and although sometimes products/technologies share names they really don't have much to do with the other in the sense that we are accustomed to, as a prior poster mentioned.
 
daneoni said:
Sweet. My watch has a sapphire face and whilst there are scratches all over the bracelet, the face is still pristine. Problem with sapphire on a phone is that although scratch resistant, it easily shatters.
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This is why I figure the iPhone will use a Aluminum Oxide coating over glass. A coating would be thin enough to bend but still hard. The coating option is likely the one we will see

(I refuse to call aluminum oxide "sapphire". That is a marketing term.)
 
Pretty sure this oxide material is less abundant than sand. Makes sense, being more expensive and all, and would probably shun Gorilla Glass out of business in the long-run (unless they can quickly adapt to the changing market).
 
Remember the 'sim removal tool'? That was later found out to be Apple testing a manufacturer's process, and they later did the metal around the periphery of the iPhones 4 and 4s.

Maybe the sapphire covering the camera lens on the 5 is Apple testing a new materials hat could one day cover the entire screen as well.
 
Mr. Retrofire said:
That knowledge comes from 1880. Modern materials, which are impossible without modern manufacturing methods, do not have this problem.
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Confusion happens because the word "hardness" has three meanings. One is elasticity, the second in resistance to indentation and then we have scratch resistance.

If we are talking about "sapphire" it is not a "modern" material. It has always existed in nature and has been man made for over 100 years. But there is no doubt that that stuff is stronger than glass
 
Mr. Retrofire said:
That knowledge comes from 1880. Modern materials, which are impossible without modern manufacturing methods, do not have this problem.
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How did those modern manufacturing methods work on Boeing's lithium batteries?

Modern technology is not magical.
It has just as many, albeit different, problems as older technology.
**** happens.
 
i've never had a problem with scratches on my iPhone screen.
 
REally?

"with many users unfortunately experiencing the problems with glass displays after dropping their devices onto hard surfaces"

Gee, really? What a surprise, if I drop glass on a hard surface it shatters. What do people expect? Next - I will bitterly complain that my nice wine glass shattered as it fell from the balcony onto the terrace 3 floors below (I wish I had that - balcony and terrace below, only got the glass). Actually, I thought its pretty good - dropped my 4 once on a subway platform and it had only a little edge in the glass that I could remove (and this was the only time any of my so far 4 iPhones - original, 3Gs, 4 and 5 - dropped).

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needfx said:
when the time comes, we should only worry about dropping the phone on diamonds
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or dropping diamonds on the phone...
 
fruitpunch.ben said:
I've dropped my phone twice, one onto its back once onto its front. No scratches on the screen, just some dings in the bezel. I was lucky!
Sure it was because I was careless. I was holding my phone as a flashlight and it slipped out of my hand. Or once I was holding my phone while getting my son out the car and dropped it onto the parking lot. But just because I was a bit careless doesn't mean I wouldn't appreciate Apple making efforts where they can to protect against it.
Accidents happen to everybody. Are you really that arrogant to suggest they never happen to you?
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Arrogant? Really dude? I simply said I've never dropped my iPhone. Don't take it another level for no reason. You even admitted you were being careless. Do you always go around picking fights? :rolleyes:
 
gri said:
"with many users unfortunately experiencing the problems with glass displays after dropping their devices onto hard surfaces"

Gee, really? What a surprise, if I drop glass on a hard surface it shatters. What do people expect? Next - I will bitterly complain that my nice wine glass shattered as it fell from the balcony onto the terrace 3 floors below (I wish I had that - balcony and terrace below, only got the glass). Actually, I thought its pretty good - dropped my 4 once on a subway platform and it had only a little edge in the glass that I could remove.
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I was going to echo this because of the author's absurd word choice. It isn't a criticism that glass shatters when dropped...in that vein is it a criticism that water freezes at 0?
 
Sapphire instead of glass?
Diamond instead of silicon?

All technologies not ready for the prime time. No matter who or what believes it. But in the future this is possible.
 
Make the entire phone out of a single crystal, and shape it like a pyramid to give it actual magical powers. If it was fashioned into a hat, really a wearable device, then the owners would have magical powers too and the phone might not actually be needed after awhile.
 
MacRumors said:
[/center]While Apple has received much praise for the aesthetics of its iPhone designs, it has also received criticism over durability issues, with many users unfortunately experiencing the problems with glass displays after dropping their devices onto hard surfaces.
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Sometimes I wonder whether such statements are meant seriously or not. Did the author drop his head onto a hard surface too much?

Gav2k said:
Most scratched iPhones I see its the coating that's scratched not the glass. And let's face it the issue with the ip5 is the aluminium not the glass.
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Wait, I thought that Aluminium was the premium material that sets the IP5 apart from crappy plastic phones like the Samsung Galaxy?


Anyways, I have a watch with sapphire glass. It's 10 years old now, and once or twice in that time I probably hit a concrete wall watch first (cutting corners...). No scratches. Of course that watch costs more than the average MBP and it's pretty heavy. Maybe they can improve the scratch resistance with Sapphire, but I don't think they will be able to shatter-proof it... so the original "oh I dropped my phone on a hard surface" problem remains.

If there was some kind of flexible material instead, then the main damage from drops might be reduced to dents in the case. Until then, don't drop it ;)
 
HenryDJP said:
I've never dropped my iPhone. Not to say that it can't happen, but there are people that are just plain careless.
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I drop my iPhone a lot, which is why I have an otterbox case on it.

And you are right, that is careless, because I don't not want to walk around having to think that this precious item needs to be attended to and protected all the time.

My iPhone is tool I use and in that context it gets banged around.

BTW: The plastic part of the otterbox holds up well. The silicone outer sleeve is a mess and has many design efficiencies which make it rip easily.
 
I would love this. When they introduced the sapphire lens cover, the first thing I thought was "I wish the whole screen was sapphire". Much like some people have already said here, if you like fine time pieces, you're already well acquainted with sapphire and how scratch resistant it is. I can't tell you how many times my watch has slammed into a wall as I was walking around a corner quickly, and it's not dinged or scratched. It would be quite expensive to do this in a phone, though.
 
Sapphire is more scratch resistant than glass, but it also is more brittle.
 
daneoni said:
Sweet. My watch has a sapphire face and whilst there are scratches all over the bracelet, the face is still pristine. Problem with sapphire on a phone is that although scratch resistant, it easily shatters.
Click to expand...

Personally I don't know how practical sapphire is to replace glass on the iPhone but I totally agree about its durability.

I still have my Sector watch that I got as a gift in 1995, use it daily and I've abused the thing, banging it and dropping it on hard surfaces more times than I care to share and as I look at it right now the bracelet is beat to hell but if you only looked at the sapphire surface, you'd be convinced it's brand new fresh out of the box. Not a single scratch or pit or anything. It's amazing.
 
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