iPhone has gorilla glass? The saga continues

[Arnezie]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/02/apple-name-drops-corning-as-iphone-glass-manufacturer-we-feign/

For a company so focused on secrecy, Apple never really did all that good of a job keeping its connection with Corning under wraps. We've always suspected that the company enlisted the Gorilla Glass maker for the iPhone, though it didn't really go out of its way to admit it -- even going so far as omitting the New York-based company from its 2011 suppliers list. Cupertino offered it a little love today, however, giving Corning a nod in its chipper job creation report. While it didn't actually mention Gorilla Glass by name on the page, Apple was happy to talk up the "Corning employees in Kentucky and New York who create the majority of the glass for iPhone."

 

[decksnap]

What saga? They always used, and were the first to use Gorilla Glass.

 

[motoleo]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I believe they do use Gorilla Glass. I dropped my iPhone and absolutely nothing happened to it.

 

[kdarling]

While it didn't actually mention Gorilla Glass by name on the page, Apple was happy to talk up the "Corning employees in Kentucky and New York who create the majority of the glass for iPhone."

Corning makes lots of types of glass, so acknowledging them doesn't tell us much.

Apple's iPhone website originally just said it was "optical quality" glass.

It was Isaacson's book about Jobs that had a section about it being Gorilla Glass.

 

[DroidRules]

I, like many many owners don't care who makes the glass. Other than giving the fan bois the ability to tout having gorilla glass, why does it matter who makes the glass?

 

[thenerdal]

Corning does make other glass products with aluminosilicate, so it doesn't mean that the iPhone has Gorillas Glass per se.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/18/white-iphone-4-delay-the-challenges-faced-by-apples-glass-supp/

 

[SteveAbootman]

I remember hearing a story/rumor that said Apple was actually the company to convince corning to revive the gorilla glass product so they could use it in their iPhone. Not sure if we'll ever know the truth, but if it did happen, Corning owes Apple a big favor...

 

[thenerdal]

I remember hearing a story/rumor that said Apple was actually the company to convince corning to revive the gorilla glass product so they could use it in their iPhone. Not sure if we'll ever know the truth, but if it did happen, Corning owes Apple a big favor...

Yes, that is in fact true. Gorilla Glass was used in the first iPhone. That is a fact, we're not sure if it was used after.

 

[PNutts]

Not sure if we'll ever know the truth, but if it did happen, Corning owes Apple a big favor...

In all honesty, the poor design of the iPhone 4/4S has to be a black eye for the glass maker. If it was GG, which does a great job at what it's supposed to do, did not impress anyone by shattering due to being dropped on exposed edges.

 

[Thedeathbear]

In all honesty, the poor design of the iPhone 4/4S has to be a black eye for the glass maker. If it was GG, which does a great job at what it's supposed to do, did not impress anyone by shattering due to being dropped on exposed edges.

You obviously need to either drop it from a nice height or hit it at a certain spot. I've dropped mine many times without a case on concrete and asphalt. My launch day iPhone 4 is still in great condition. I still agree that it isn't the best design for durability.

 

[linuxcooldude]

I discussed this before with Gorilla glass on the iPhones, as I was sure it used Gorilla glass. I found this article that Walter Isaacson discussed about Wendall Weeks of Corning glass:

Wendell Weeks said he called his plant in Kentucky that was making glass for LCD screens, and said, "Start the process now, and make Gorilla Glass." That's why every iPhone in your pocket and iPad has Gorilla Glass made by Corning. This is the reality distortion field that is, I submit, part and parcel of a guy who doesn't believe the rules apply to him, even the rule about never cut in line.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/12/27/walter-isaacson-steve-jobs/

As an added bonus you can download the actually audio/video podcast where they have that discussion for 99 cents.

Corning employees in Kentucky and New York who create the majority of the glass for iPhone

http://www.apple.com/about/job-creation/

 

[Applejuiced]

Gorilla? I thought it was helicopter glass

 

[marksman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Not sure if we'll ever know the truth, but if it did happen, Corning owes Apple a big favor...

In all honesty, the poor design of the iPhone 4/4S has to be a black eye for the glass maker. If it was GG, which does a great job at what it's supposed to do, did not impress anyone by shattering due to being dropped on exposed edges.

Wat?

 

[Menel]

It's probably not Gorilla Glass, but it's still an aluminosilicate glass made by Corning. Apple probably delivers the specs and they build to those specs.

It's the way they do a lot of things. Apple controls the design, and does their best to keep their suppliers in the dark.

 

[Fudd]

I'm going to guess that Corning is not the only supplier of glass so only some of the iphones might have the version supplied by Corning.

Either they're getting a more generic version or simply marking gorilla glass as generic to avoid customer complaints. In that case, its pretty much luck of the draw whether your phone has gorilla glass/corning glass or other manufacturer glass.

 

[crc4]

The iphone is extremely fragile and should not be made of glass.
I dropped a 4 while sitting on my driveway, maybe 1 1/2 foot drop.
shattered the screen
Butterfly Glass would be a more appropriete name

 

[viewfly]

I've never read so much BS in my life. It's the same Gorilla Glass, get over the weird theories. Geez.

 

[DanteMann]

Corning makes more than just gorilla glass. Until Apple actually says they use Gorilla Glass, I say iProducts don't have gorilla glass. Engadget is being very premature on the Gorilla Glass assumption. They, along with many other Apple loyalists would love to think Apple uses Gorilla Glass. Having gorilla glass is a selling point. So if you actually use it, why would you not come out and say it. Also, if the iPhone actually used Gorilla Glass, maybe the out come of the following video wouldn't be so sad for the iPhone. I think it's more than obvious they don't use Gorilla Glass. And if I were Corning, considering the outcome of this video, I also would not want Apple to say they use Gorilla Glass. I think a lot of Apple loyalists would like to think Apple uses Gorilla Glass. But until Apple says they use it, I say they don't. The video is the biggest proof they don't use it. But we do know for a FACT that the OTHER device in the video DOES use Gorilla Glass. And the results of the video also prove this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elKxgsrJFhw

 

[viewfly]

So the theory is, against all the contrary evidence, that Apple who went through a lot of effort to push Corning to speed production of Gorilla Glass for the first iPhone, decided to abandon it in favor of an inferior product, while its competitors where slamming the Corning Co to copy the same Apple product?

This from Apple that makes a metal frame for the weighty iPhone, instead of plastic from its competitors?

And the argument, against all the other evidence, is that Corning does not say it uses Gorilla glass in the iPhone...okay...what company is saying that it supplies Apple's glass...none.

Actually, the secret is not the Gorilla Glass, a 20+ year old product, but the ability to cut, shape and attach it to the screen. Apple and their chinese engineers figured it out, and this is what made the success.

 

[DanteMann]

So the theory is, against all the contrary evidence, that Apple who went through a lot of effort to push Corning to speed production of Gorilla Glass for the first iPhone, decided to abandon it in favor of an inferior product, while its competitors where slamming the Corning Co to copy the same Apple product?

This from Apple that makes a metal frame for the weighty iPhone, instead of plastic from its competitors?

And the argument, against all the other evidence, is that Corning does not say it uses Gorilla glass in the iPhone...okay...what company is saying that it supplies Apple's glass...none.

Actually, the secret is not the Gorilla Glass, a 20+ year old product, but the ability to cut, shape and attach it to the screen. Apple and their chinese engineers figured it out, and this is what made the success.

Sorry explain the video in my post just before your post. Galaxy S2 is known for using Gorilla Glass, and it came out with no scratches to is glass display. Apple has always been a company about form over function. Shattered iPhones and antenna gate are just a few examples of this.

 

[decksnap]

And how much of that difference can you attribute to the different designs of the phone? All of it.

Breaks easier if you're wearing a tin-foil hat I'm told.

 

[viewfly]

Sorry explain the video in my post just before your post. Galaxy S2 is known for using Gorilla Glass, and it came out with no scratches to is glass display. Apple has always been a company about form over function. Shattered iPhones and antenna gate are just a few examples of this.

Sorry back. you have a lay persons perspective on this. Stats show that the total number of broken glass glass returns for apple are not significantly higher.

Apple is about form AND function.

One video tells no one anything. Given the weight and exposed corners of the 4 line breakage is easier when the corners are hit. This has nothing to do with the scratch resistance of the glass. It's the same material.

 

[PNutts]

Wat?

Sorry, the point I was badly trying to make is that if it is Gorilla Glass, then Gorilla Glass is not much better than regular glass. Or the design of the phone subjects Gorilla Glass to conditions where it doesn't provide it's full benefits. For example, can't be scratched by a key but shatters when dropped on it's exposed side.

I know us iPhone users are a fussy lot, but if all the products listed below had the same failure rate as the iPhone 4 / 4S glass then I don't think manufacturers would be standing in line for Gorilla Glass or Gorilla Glass 2.

My personal opinion is that assuming all iPhones have had GG, the breakage would be proportional to the number of devices and we would have heard about this before the iPhone 4. So it must be the design of the iPhone 4 / 4S that "changed the durability" of GG.

Full list of products made with Gorilla Glass

Edit: I saw this after I posted.

Given the weight and exposed corners of the 4 line breakage is easier when the corners are hit. This has nothing to do with the scratch resistance of the glass. It's the same material.

Yes. The design.

 

[viewfly]

read post 45 here.

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=14245519

From squaretrade reports:

Not only has the scratchable surface area doubled, the new aluminosilicate Gorilla glass used in the iPhone 4 doesn't seem any less likely to break than previous models.

http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/S...Study_1010.pdf

And from another SquareTrade report, regarding accident rates in general:

As reported in our previous study on the iPhone 4 glass, the early iPhone 4 data shows a higher accident rate compared to its predecessor. However, when we compare it to the Android manufacturers, it is higher, but not by much. We expect 13.8% of iPhone 4 owners to report an accident within a year, compared to 12.2% for both Motorola and HTC.

 

[DanteMann]

Sorry back. you have a lay persons perspective on this. Stats show that the total number of broken glass glass returns for apple are not significantly higher.

Apple is about form AND function.

One video tells no one anything. Given the weight and exposed corners of the 4 line breakage is easier when the corners are hit. This has nothing to do with the scratch resistance of the glass. It's the same material.

Image

Really? One video tells no one anything? So you go an post one PIC that says a whole lot less? Sorry again, but that drop test video said a whole lot more than your one pic of an HTC Evo with a shattered screen. To bad you don't have a video showing how that screen got shattered. Do you have a video of a phone with Gorilla Glass being shattered from a waist high or shoulder high drop, like the video I posted? Otherwise your pic says nothing on how it got shattered. Nice try though.

I think the best thing about your post was you said: "Apple is about form AND function."

But then you go on to say. "Given the weight and exposed corners of the 4 line breakage is easier when the corners are hit."

That's hilarious. I guess if Apple really did care more about function you would have that pathetic problem of easy to break and shatter from a simple drop.

AGAIN, until Apple says they use Gorilla Glass, THEY DON'T.
Anything else is just an assumption. This is a FACT.