iPhone 6 Front Panel Subjected to Scratch Test, Significant Bending

The oleo in oleophobic refers to oil. In other words, the natural oil on your fingers tends to stay on your fingers instead of creating a film of smudgy mess on the glass; it has nothing to do with scratches.

 

But it IS a coating... It has physical dimensions... even if it is very thin.... and the coating is not as hard as the sapphire itself... So yes... theoretically, the screen could get scratches in the COATING.

 

Yes...it has nothing to do with protecting against scratches because that isn't it's purpose, which is essentially what I just said.

 

I knew someone would focus on the knife point test and (sort of) disregard the rest. That's why I said similar test. I disagree with the knife point test as practical. With phones and tablets, the key test was much more practical and real world applicable. Not many phones are going to be stabbed. Fare more practical would have been a drop test (understanding that circumstance didn't allow it). As for Corning and their battle with sapphire, I couldn't care less. As long as one of those technologies make the phones less prone to fracture, not scratching, I consider it a win. I've never worried about scratches, but I have replaced a few cracked screens.

We both agree about the bending test. No phone would be bent that dramatically and pure sapphire would not be able to do it. Possibly a composite, but Apple isn't pursuing a composite in the manor you described. In fact it's the exact opposite. From: http://www.macrumors.com/2014/03/27/sapphire-patent-oleophobic/

Relevant portion excerpted below:

"The patent details a multi-layer display material with a base sapphire layer, a transition layer that serves to bond the surface layer to the base layer and finally a surface layer with an oleophobic coating.
Various embodiments described herein encompass a component with a substrate having an alumina base layer, a transition layer comprising alumina and silica, and a surface coating that preferentially bonds to the silica. The base layer may comprise a single-crystal sapphire. The transition layer may transition substantially continuously from about 100% alumina at the base layer to include substantial silica content at the surface coating, or to about 100% silica or silica glass at the surface coating.

A surface layer may be formed on the transition layer, with a substantially silica content, for example substantially 100% silica or silica glass, and the surface coating may be oleophobic. A portable electronic device may comprise the coated component, the portable device may include a window, the oleophobic coating may be provided on an exterior surface of the window, and the window may also include a touch screen."

When this post originally appeared I asked the question that no one answered. If sapphire is the base and glass is the surface layer, how does that improve scratch resistance?

Anywhoooo, I also agree with you about the sandpaper test. Whether the panel in the video is an actual sapphire panel remains to be seen. I'm about 80% convinced it's not. The bending seriously threw me for a loop. Funny thing, everything in that video (stabbing notwithstanding) can be done with Gorilla Glass... including the bending.

 

Impressive, and hurrah to no longer needing, or feeling the need to use a screen protector. Sadly I doubt the rear casing will have the same scratch resistance. A liquidmetal rear or all sapphire glass device would be welcomed

 

They did that to reduce the upper bezel size height given the larger display size... think, man, think!

 

I'm sure corning of gorilla glass fame will be first to bash sapphire in phones and claim their formula is better but in the end it's the death throws of gorilla glass in phones of the future, i'm sure it'll still be around but they've had their peak, watch every other manufacturer scramble to build their own sapphire furnaces!

I know that you were being funny but knives need to be sharpened and better quality ones are designed to be sharped with ease meaning they blunt under normal use.

Keys have to be softer than locks so are designed to be worn down rather than too hard and damage the lock.

Trainers are supposed to bend.

I'm being facetious but go go sapphire iPhone! looks absolutely amazing.

 

Lol. There is only few Apple devices. Unless he is buying Apple devices on 10x. Like 10x Mac Pro, 10x iPhone..

 

You're missing the point: even if the sapphire layer is scratch proof, if there is still a softer oleophobic layer above it then the screen won't be entirely immune to scratches.

 

Oh you wouldn't know it from this video lol. This is the only video I've ever seen of his so he fooled me

 

I wasn't talking about the sapphire being scratchproof, I was explaining the purpose of the oleophobic layer.

 

I am pretty sure you're referencing GG vs Sapphire in general, but Corning thinking they offer a better product can't be considered bashing. Calling it garbage is, but saying I offer a superior product is not. Regarding the video, I'd be more willing to bet that is a GG panel instead of an actual sapphire panel. I've already posted a video of GG exhibiting the same qualities and that video is over a year old. I am most skeptical because of the bending. That is a quality of GG, and not a quality of sapphire. Unless it's a sapphire composite, I seriously doubt a substance as hard as sapphire is bending like that.

 

Will someone please drop an iPhone 6 from space?

 

As I've stated elsewhere in the forums rigidity isn't absolute, you can make anything flexible if you make it thin enough, glass and sapphire included. Those stating it can't be sapphire because the screen flexes are completely wrong. It could be a composite of sapphire on glass, but it doesn't need to be. (Qualifications: materials scientist)

I was contemplating moving away from Apple for my next phone, but this might help persuade me to stay.

 

Your iPhone 6 is now floating in mid-air and your body begins to involuntarily shiver.

 

This video is quite impressive. I'd rather see a real part that shows extreme durability and scratch resistance than mock-up after mock-up on the front page. Not sure why this is a Page 2 article.

Also included in the video were descriptions about the iPhone 5S already featuring sapphire glass for the camera lens and the home button, which I knew at one point (and maybe I'm just an idiot) but I had forgotten about. Getting that reminder adds credibility to the idea that Apple would look to increase the amount of sapphire used on their devices.

 

Way late to the party, just watched the video. Incredible screen. Hope it's the real deal. And I'm more than just slightly happy to see that it's not drastically larger than the 5/5S. I like my 501s and my old "5" is already a tight fit. Especially when trying to stow / fetch it while I'm sitting down, because of the bend in the pocket at the hip.

And seriously, The Verge needs to hire this guy.
Unless he gets paid more already, of course.

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Will it blend?

 

The argument is: scratch-proof or not, if the display has that smudge-proof layer on it, and THAT scratches, we still might see scratches on our display.
Your rebuttal was "...but it's oil proof!"
When the other person went on to reiterate what they meant, you continued on saying "It's not supposed to be scratch proof, it's supposed to be oil proof."

The other person is concerned that regardless of the display being made of sapphire - a material known among the MR forums to be scratch proof - it will still register scratches due to that oleophobic coating over it. Nobody in this discussion asked you to explain to us what oleophobic means. Nobody is refuting that the coating isn't scratch proof. This really isn't that difficult to understand.

 

I think his only complain have always been about iPhone small screen size! As you may have noticed, he have giant size hands! Larger screen iPhone size perhaps made him change his thoughts.

 

The OP did ask what the oleophobic was for if you'd bothered to look, but you can go back to your anti-oleophobic coating circlejerk now... sorry I bothered to answer a question.

 

I think most are excited for the real estate bump

 

I'm wondering if this is really a production part and not just one of those glass screen protectors.

Even though I watch quite a bit of media content (YouTube, Netflix, etc) on my phone, I really am not interested in an enourmous device. On Android, bigger devices usually means bigger content, not more content and I'm not interested in that.

I went from a 5.5" Galaxy Note 2 to an iPhone 4, then iPhone 5 a week later. I don't mind the size. I could use longer battery life though.

 

Correct.

No I didn't ask about what the oleophobic coating does. I asked if it will still get micro scratches, therefore the sapphire glass will still show scratches, even though the actual screen isn't scratched just the coating.

 

Okay, glad we cleared that up.