Future Smartphone Displays May Use Sapphire Instead of Glass

[sulpfiction]

Excellent. All my watches have sapphire crystals and they never have been scratched. However, my months old iPhone 5 (which I never keep anywhere near abrasive materials) has a deep scratch in the screen (not in the coating, in the glass itself).

At some point your phone was near an abrasive material. Deep scratches don't happen spontaneously.

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This is as far out financially viable for consumers as possible it's not even funny.

Please explain.

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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.

But the metal around the 4-4S wasn't the same metal used in the sim removal tool.

 

[Kissaragi]

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.

Yep, clearly all modern technology is useless based on this one incident. We should give up now and go back to caves and rocks.

 

[GREEN4U]

Sapphire Crystal sounds sexier than Gorilla Glass.

 

[blodyholy]

Kind of more interested to see if/when Tactus Technology's raised haptic buttons will/would fit into the iPhone equation.

 

[Kissaragi]

Doesn't gorilla glass already use a scratch proof coating that would be similar to the proposed sapphire coating?

 

[cube]

when the time comes, we should only worry about dropping the phone on diamonds

when the time comes, most stuff will be made of diamond.

 

[PatriotInvasion]

Making the phone stronger and more scratch resistant with sapphire sounds great, but the real game changer for these devices would be a surface that is immune to fingerprints. Apple's oleophobic coating doesn't help much at all.

 

[DGFan]

Sapphire, a crystalline form of aluminum oxide,

Did somebody say transparent aluminum?

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Don't get all 'OHH and AHH' over a sapphire crystal display.

I have a brand new TAG Heuer watch with a 'nearly unbreakable sapphire crystal' which is advertised as being 'more durable than a typical glass crystal', and within a month, had managed to shatter it. I submitted same for warranty repair to Heuer, and was denied a warranty repair due to 'severe damage'... Only damage was the crystal, everything else was intact, with no scratches or marks of any kind.

It fell from a height of about two feet onto the floor.

I tried everything to get them to admit that it was possible that the crystal had a flaw in it and should at least be covered for the cost of the crystal, and they stubbornly refused. I was disgusted and also shocked that a watch that was billed as 'durable' would be so fragile, and that a crystal would shatter from a single accidental drop into a floor... But anyway... There appears to be a way that the crystal can be grown with a flaw that coupled with other stresses, causes the structure to fail under what could be said was 'non unusual stress'. I hope they stay with Gorilla Glass.

Needless to say, I do not wear that watch much anymore.

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Sapphire Crystal sounds sexier than Gorilla Glass.

It depends on what the Gorilla is wearing, I'd suppose...

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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.

Sapphire shatters too. Depending on how it's processed, it can be made even weaker than glass... I did have a watch that had a sapphire crystal in it that was scratched by contact with grout in a brick wall. It's not magical...

 

[Nightarchaon]

i want a 27" iMac with a Sapphire glass screen

 

[RITmusic2k]

Vertu already makes all their phones with sapphire glass screens. There's just the small issue of having to drop ten grand for the damn thing.

 

[pubwvj]

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

And do these same users have unfortunate experiences when they crash their cars into bridge abutments or jump off cliffs? Unlike with virtual reality games there are consequences in the real world.

I'm all for real-world-tough devices. Bravo, let's make them indestructible. But the quote above reads pretty ridiculously. Yes, glass will break when you smash it. Gee, wiz!

A bigger problem is Apple outdating hardware. It is grand to have the hardware last and last and last but Apple needs to start supporting older hardware. Their lack of OS support for older equipment is a major pollution problem. Apple is not green, contrary to what they want you to think.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Camera Lens

Wasn't the sapphire coating a problem for iPhone 5 users when taking a picture with the flash on? IIRC, it produced a weird effect on the image.... or has that been corrected?

 

[JHankwitz]

I don't know about the need for this. Gorilla Glass 3 seems pretty darn good and I can't see Apple wanting to see $20-30 being chipped away from their profit margins.

Especially when the problem is easily and cost effectively addressed by applying a scratch resistant replaceable film.

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Wasn't the sapphire coating a problem for iPhone 5 users when taking a picture with the flash on? IIRC, it produced a weird effect on the image.... or has that been corrected?

You mean the flare when you took pictures pointed at the sun? What a joke.

 

[RedRaven571]

The future is already here.

And here.

Beam me up, Scotty.

Is that the "transparent aluminum" Scotty requests to build the tank to hold the whales in Star Trek 3 (or 4)?

 

[Smartass]

screw sapphire and diamond, make the screen out of STEEL! now try to crack that!

 

[HenryDJP]

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.

Haha, you're not in the "careless" category. You bought the Otterbox (which is the best thing on this planet, IMO) for your iPhone. That's called being responsible AND smart.

 

[TheHateMachine]

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.

It is ridiculous to take care of your expensive toys?

Guess I am full blown "effing" ridiculous then.

This is why we cannot have nice things.

 

[cclloyd]

South Africa holds the key...


I also feel that the way to make a scratch resistant and shatter resistant screen is to use a flexible screen.

 

[Avatar74]

Is that the "transparent aluminum" Scotty requests to build the tank to hold the whales in Star Trek 3 (or 4)?

Star Trek 4... ALON was already in development in 1986 but I'm not sure if the filmmakers knew about it.

 

[chadley_chad]

Personally, I'd pump my development money into plastic screens, with the option of screen protectors to protect against scratching. I know little about the properties of plastic, but surely a screen made of this material wouldn't break when dropped; and with a screen protector, remain scratch free.

Just a thought.

 

[fruitpunch.ben]

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?

It's arrogant because you suggested apple shouldn't care about making their phones stronger because YOU are never careless and never drop your phone. Have a thought to the busier/more clumsy members of the world rather than just yourself perhaps?

 

[vpro]

seriously?

this is sick, this is what Mother nature needs more destructive practices and more demand for minerals from which slave labour market shall perpetuate to keep costs low for consumers. a sad and unforgivable move.

 

[Fishticks]

Not even a rumor.

 

[Craiger77]

this is sick, this is what Mother nature needs more destructive practices and more demand for minerals from which slave labour market shall perpetuate to keep costs low for consumers. a sad and unforgivable move.

Dude, these sapphires are grown in a factory, not dug out of the ground by some kid in the Brazilian jungle.