Ion Strengthened Glass vs Sapphire

[daijholt]

So as we all know, iPhone 6 & 6 Plus do not come with a Sapphire enhanced impossible-to-scratch screens, but something called "Ion Strengthened Glass".

That being said, I'd like to refer you to this video of when the alleged sapphire glass leaked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7ANcWQEUI8

Marques Brownlee did a scratch test and explained the Mohs scale, and found that the leaked screen was not pure sapphire, but was stronger than gorilla glass by a fair margin.

Now check this video of the final iPhone 6 scratch test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYJBwIhmK60

This one shows that the screens we actually got can't event be scratched by a perfectly sharp knife point.

So my questions are these:

1. What exactly is ion strengthened glass, compared to gorilla glass?
2. Do we think that the leaked screen's tested in video 1 are the very same that we got on the final product? The final screen does seem remarkably tough compared to last year's.

I just got my iPhone 6 today, and the first thing I did was buy an Invisible Shield HDX, but Im finding that the slight height of the screen protector ruins the perfect curve feel of the phone's edges as I use it, and Im considering going without one at all.

Interested to get everyone's thoughts?

 

[Gav2k]

Most glass is rapidly cooled with air jets, this rapid cooling makes the glass extremely tough.

Ion strengthend glass is basically cooled to 300'c-450'c in a chemical bath which hardens the surface by a chemical exchange process.

I could get really technical but honestly it's not worth thinking about lol

 

[Shikaka]

I read that it was Apple's decision to part ways with Corning Gorilla Glass. If you look at the Gorilla Glass website you will notice that the Apple iPhone is not included in their list of partner devices.

Speculation is that Apple parted ways with Gorilla Glass in anticipation of using sapphire glass on the iPhone 6/6+. Either due to lack of supply or the brittle nature of sapphire glass, Apple changed it's mind and used a glass similar, if not the same as Gorilla Glass, calling it Ion Strengthened Glass.

 

[Gregintosh]

I had some hairline scratches on my iPhone 6 after a day of use. I am sure others have managed to get some scratches on theirs also.

Maybe this is better than the glass on the original iPhone many years ago but I think for all practical purposes its probably not much different **IN PRACTICE** than what was on the 4S or 5 or whatever.

I had all of those units and while they acquired some small scratches visible under the right lighting, none managed to get really badly scratched. I never used any cases or screen protectors and I drop all my phones at least a few times during the course of the year or two I use them.

This seems like it will likely be the same way. To be honest what concerns me most is the breakage of the glass when dropped. When I can finally get a phone I can drop from 6 feet onto concrete and have it not break (maybe scuff a little bit only but not enough to be obviously visible from a mile away) then I will be impressed and admit a major advancement has occurred.

Until then, the extra mumbo jumbo around glass processes and strengthening and whatever are just incremental improvements that maybe help eliminate a few more % of the scratches you'd normally get but they aren't game changing.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

...what concerns me most is the breakage of the glass when dropped. When I can finally get a phone I can drop from 6 feet onto concrete and have it not break (maybe scuff a little bit only but not enough to be obviously visible from a mile away) then I will be impressed and admit a major advancement has occurred.

Just in case there's any confusion, you won't get that with Sapphire or even Diamond. Both will shatter just like glass. Sapphire is about greater scratch resistance (better than glass) but I suspect the bigger problem for the masses is the one you reference.

 

[daijholt]

This article does a good job of explaining it:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...als-chemical-process-used-create-display.html

 

[PeteLP]

I read that it was Apple's decision to part ways with Corning Gorilla Glass. If you look at the Gorilla Glass website you will notice that the Apple iPhone is not included in their list of partner devices.

Speculation is that Apple parted ways with Gorilla Glass in anticipation of using sapphire glass on the iPhone 6/6+. Either due to lack of supply or the brittle nature of sapphire glass, Apple changed it's mind and used a glass similar, if not the same as Gorilla Glass, calling it Ion Strengthened Glass.

I've never found a single article corroborating (from either Apple or Corning) the use of gorilla glass in any iphone model. Their glass suppliers have not been disclosed as is often the case with other components.

However, Jacobson's Jobs biography seemed to indicate that Gorilla glass WAS being used. This link from Corning's web site also seems to imply that Gorilla glass IS in fact ion strengthened just as described in the daily mail link above.

IMO it seems very possible that apple has used gorilla glass in the past and is still using it (in its latest form) in the iPhone 6. I'd certainly be interested to hear anything more concrete on the subject

 

[David Sanders]

I had some hairline scratches on my iPhone 6 after a day of use. I am sure others have managed to get some scratches on theirs also.

Maybe this is better than the glass on the original iPhone many years ago but I think for all practical purposes its probably not much different **IN PRACTICE** than what was on the 4S or 5 or whatever.

I had all of those units and while they acquired some small scratches visible under the right lighting, none managed to get really badly scratched. I never used any cases or screen protectors and I drop all my phones at least a few times during the course of the year or two I use them.

This seems like it will likely be the same way. To be honest what concerns me most is the breakage of the glass when dropped. When I can finally get a phone I can drop from 6 feet onto concrete and have it not break (maybe scuff a little bit only but not enough to be obviously visible from a mile away) then I will be impressed and admit a major advancement has occurred.

Until then, the extra mumbo jumbo around glass processes and strengthening and whatever are just incremental improvements that maybe help eliminate a few more % of the scratches you'd normally get but they aren't game changing.

 

[David Sanders]

I had some hairline scratches on my iPhone 6 after a day of use. I am sure others have managed to get some scratches on theirs also.

Maybe this is better than the glass on the original iPhone many years ago but I think for all practical purposes its probably not much different **IN PRACTICE** than what was on the 4S or 5 or whatever.

I had all of those units and while they acquired some small scratches visible under the right lighting, none managed to get really badly scratched. I never used any cases or screen protectors and I drop all my phones at least a few times during the course of the year or two I use them.

This seems like it will likely be the same way. To be honest what concerns me most is the breakage of the glass when dropped. When I can finally get a phone I can drop from 6 feet onto concrete and have it not break (maybe scuff a little bit only but not enough to be obviously visible from a mile away) then I will be impressed and admit a major advancement has occurred.

Until then, the extra mumbo jumbo around glass processes and strengthening and whatever are just incremental improvements that maybe help eliminate a few more % of the scratches you'd normally get but they aren't game changing.

The HTC one m8 and presumably the m9 definitely have the best durability. I know by experience, first phone in a long time (m8) that I never needed a case. After the first few drops, I stopped worrying about it. I dropped mine on concrete multiple times, even a straight drop on it's face. Nothing but a few scratches and a tiny dent on the back. I am not the only one: http://m.androidcentral.com/heres-w...ccidentally-dropping-it-17-times-without-case

 

[cynics]

I've never found a single article corroborating (from either Apple or Corning) the use of gorilla glass in any iphone model. Their glass suppliers have not been disclosed as is often the case with other components.

However, Jacobson's Jobs biography seemed to indicate that Gorilla glass WAS being used. This link from Corning's web site also seems to imply that Gorilla glass IS in fact ion strengthened just as described in the daily mail link above.

IMO it seems very possible that apple has used gorilla glass in the past and is still using it (in its latest form) in the iPhone 6. I'd certainly be interested to hear anything more concrete on the subject

This..

It seems Apple does their best not to advertise other companies through their own products. We've never be made directly aware of Apple using GG from either company.

However, interestingly we have not seen the thinness benefits of revisions of GG on many iPhone releases. So if Corning does make the screens for the iPhone IMO its not exactly the GG spec glass.

 

[willmtaylor]

I had some hairline scratches on my iPhone 6 after a day of use. I am sure others have managed to get some scratches on theirs also....

They were, most likely, not scratches in the glass but actually the oleophobic coating on the glass.

Anything' possible though, I suppose...

 

[willmtaylor]

I've never found a single article corroborating (from either Apple or Corning) the use of gorilla glass in any iphone model. Their glass suppliers have not been disclosed as is often the case with other components.

However, Jacobson's Jobs biography seemed to indicate that Gorilla glass WAS being used. This link from Corning's web site also seems to imply that Gorilla glass IS in fact ion strengthened just as described in the daily mail link above.

IMO it seems very possible that apple has used gorilla glass in the past and is still using it (in its latest form) in the iPhone 6. I'd certainly be interested to hear anything more concrete on the subject

"Highlighting how challenging and dynamic the environment was at the time, after Steve Jobs scratched the pre-release iPhone screen with the keys in his pocket, he asked the team to come up with a better solution. They turned to Corning, which had invented a new, chemically hardened material, but had yet to find a commercial application for it. The team spun on a dime and the iPhone shipped with a screen made with Gorilla Glass."
http://www.imore.com/history-iphone-original

"Another interesting aspect of the discussion was the oft-heard story about Apple making the switch from a plastic touchscreen to a glass display after Jobs confronted the team with his own iPhone screen, scratched by the keys in his pocket. They called up Corning and convinced them to jump back into their abandoned Gorilla Glass efforts shortly before the iPhone was announced -- a great pivot at the last minute. (Interestingly, while Gorilla Glass is a feature now touted by many rival manufacturers and devices, neither Apple nor Corning to this day will confirm its use on the iPhone.)" [Emphasis mine.]
http://www.imore.com/apple-manager-tells-original-iphone-born

"Weeks retold this story, he shook his head in astonishment. “We did it in under six months,” he said. “We produced a glass that had never been made.” Corning’s facility in Harrisburg, Kentucky, which had been making LCD displays, was converted almost overnight to make gorilla glass full-time. “We put our best scientists and engineers on it, and we just made it work.” In his airy office, Weeks has just one framed memento on display. It’s a message Jobs sent the day the iPhone came out: “We couldn’t have done it without you.”"
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/03...-it-still-uses-corning-glass-in-most-iphones/

 

[jpn]

This article does a good job of explaining it:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...als-chemical-process-used-create-display.html

thanks for posting this. it was a good short read, brief but interesting.

nevertheless, no smartphone on the market today sold by any brand uses just unstrengthend glass.
therefore this "ion-strengthened" tag line means absolutely nothing. even though to be sure it has strengthened the glass, to be sure, it still needs to be shown that it actually is better than other strengthened glass that other brands market. in this context, it is therefore more of marketing differentiation concept. thats all.

as others have pointed out in this thread, no iPhone can be put into the pocket and and come out without some kind of minute imperfection. on one's own phone we tend to ignore these small scratches and not notice them over time. but if you are handed another person's phone, you notice them right away.

i would pay the extra money to have a sapphire screen iPhone on a 6S or 7. whether apple would actually put sapphire into a 6s or 7 model is really in question, since apple DOES put a lot of work into figuring out a model's planned obsolescence timing. a lot of work. its great at being able to match software introduction and hardware life. its one of the things that apple does consistently best in fact!

 

[Gregintosh]

They were, most likely, not scratches in the glass but actually the oleophobic coating on the glass.

Anything' possible though, I suppose...

No, it's the glass. You can feel it when you move over it and no amount of rubbing, cleaning, etc made a difference. The glass just isn't strong enough. For scratches nothing beats sapphire.