iPhone with Sapphire Display Glass Reportedly in Trial Production

[gugy]

Nice!
I love sapphire glass.
I have an Omega watch with sapphire glass and I have been abusing it for the past 20 years and there is not a single scratch to it.
The material is amazing. Good move by Apple.

 

[LostSoul80]

Do you understand how manufacturing works?

This is news.

Do you understand what a reliable source is?
Also, are you implying anything over my understanding of manufacturing and the way it works?

 

[BvizioN]

OK. I've never scratched my display as it is, but perhaps I'm in the minority. The display looks as good today as it did when I opened it 2.5 years ago, and I use it all the time. I guess what I'm saying is, for me, it ain't broke, so fixing it doesn't do much for me. *shrug*

People have the iPhone in their pockets with bunch of keys and full of coins all the time. Hard to keep it scratch free without a screen protector.

 

[luckydcxx]

If they can manage a sapphire display and finally waterproof the phone, they have the next generation in the bag. Bigger display, the best scratch resistance you can get, water resistance, and the obligatory hardware bumps would make for the best phone by a mile.

but then there is nothing to add next year

 

[NT1440]

Do you understand what a reliable source is?
Also, are you implying anything over my understanding of manufacturing and the way it works?

Jeeze!

My apologize, I somehow completely missed the quotation marks and lost the context of your post.

I thought you were saying that trial runs were insignificant, but upon rereading you're taking issue with the shady sourcing (by which I mean next to no sourcing). Did I get that right?

 

[vomhorizon]

but then there is nothing to add next year

How do we know that without a peep into the Apple R&D pipeline? This sort of addition is usually made once every two years. If the 5/5s transition is used the externals will be very similar between the 6 and the 6s with the latter getting upgraded internals..

 

[Serban]

until october when the production of mass iphones begins its a lot of time. So iphone 6 will have sapphire glass protection UNLES there are not some really problems

 

[Lepton]

I have a watch with a sapphire crystal that I have been wearing for 30 years and it doesn't have a single scratch. Sapphire face, liquid metal base, flexible screen, battery in the wristband (Apple has a patent for that)! iWatch!

 

[LostSoul80]

Jeeze!

My apologize, I somehow completely missed the quotation marks and lost the context of your post.

I thought you were saying that trial runs were insignificant, but upon rereading you're taking issue with the shady sourcing (by which I mean next to no sourcing). Did I get that right?

That's correct. Basing on a pretty much unreliable source suggesting that it is possible, that it "got words" of ongoing tests shouldn't deserve any highlights at all in my opinion.
I have no information to judge whether such trials, if ever even confirmed, would be significant to some extent nonetheless.

 

[bbplayer5]

Most likely the 2015 model, I agree.

 

[mbh]

Initial run of 100 units of what?

iPhones with sapphire displays.

 

[Serban]

Most likely the 2015 model, I agree.

the 2015 model will be the "S" model so the structure i dont think will change that much.

 

[bigchrisfgb]

Most likely the 2015 model, I agree.

Why then? The iPhones don't start production until July. We still have 6 months left until then. The new facility in Arizona is expected to be fully open by then.

 

[Doc C]

You know, it never made sense in the first place to construct glass out of gorillas. ...

I always wondered why I couldn't see the hairs...

 

[Ieo]

Most likely the 2015 model, I agree.

A year is a long time for a facility that is already hiring staff to sit around and wait for the next generation to come around. And something tells me apple wouldn't be building a dedicated facility just for Iwatch faces since it's a first generation product in a new market segment and everything that has come before it has been a flop when put up to apple standards. I think they're actually shooting for sapphire iPhone 6 displays, and they'll settle for Iwatch and 6S if they don't meet the deadline.

 

[kingtj]

Cool....

That will come in handy the next time I need to use my iPhone to buff out a brick on the side of my house.

Indeed. I have a swanky Rado watch that has a sapphire glass cover and it's virtually indestructible. I can scrape its face against a brick wall and it still looks like new.

 

[Doc C]

Why does sapphire have to be only for the display?

I haven't had much problem with the display getting scratched (perhaps I'm lucky), but the back is a nightmare. For some reason, it gets scratches within minutes of taking the phone out of the box.

If the back is somehow scratch resistant and still relatively shatterproof (as far as Apple products go), then we would have a real winner - no more need for cases.

EDIT: perhaps an exaggeration - less need for cases, which would emphasize the beauty of the iPhone design (which is what Jonny wants, no?)

 

[technopimp]

Here's hoping-I'm tired of getting tiny micro-scratches all over this "gorilla glass" from touching it with my fingers.

 

[wizard]

OK. I've never scratched my display as it is, but perhaps I'm in the minority. The display looks as good today as it did when I opened it 2.5 years ago, and I use it all the time. I guess what I'm saying is, for me, it ain't broke, so fixing it doesn't do much for me. *shrug*

It will probably lower repair and warranty cost for Apple.

I've not had iPhone screen issues myself, however I did loose one IPad screen. Sadly I don't think they can do a large enough Sapphire window for the iPad.

I have to wonder though if this talk about the screen is just a planted distraction. I have to wonder about uses inside the IPhone instead.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

Here's hoping-I'm tired of getting tiny micro-scratches all over this "gorilla glass" from touching it with my fingers.

What, do you have little tacks on the tips of your fingers or something?

 

[cwwilson]

Whatever they used for the 5S sucks. I baby my phones and had never had a screen scratch on me. I put it in a pocket with nothing else so the glass doesn't get nicked. Yet within a week of owning the 5S it got SEVERAL abrasions in the glass. Literally have no idea how they got there but I guess the 5S glass is very thin compared to my old iPhone 4 or even my iPad which I use heavily.

 

[NT1440]

Here's hoping-I'm tired of getting tiny micro-scratches all over this "gorilla glass" from touching it with my fingers.

Do you have some sort of silica infused fingertips?

 

[wizard]

Why does sapphire have to be only for the display?

It doesn't. There are a number of potential uses.

I haven't had much problem with the display getting scratched (perhaps I'm lucky), but the back is a nightmare. For some reason, it gets scratches within minutes of taking the phone out of the box.

Do you work in a sand pit?

If the back is somehow scratch resistant and still relatively shatterproof (as far as Apple products go), then we would have a real winner - no more need for cases.

Cases are as much an expression of a persons personality than any thing else.

EDIT: perhaps an exaggeration - less need for cases, which would emphasize the beauty of the iPhone design (which is what Jonny wants, no?)

Johnny's designs are about selling a product and maintaining usefulness. What happens after the sale concerns no one but the current owner of the device.

 

[TrentS]

The Invisible iPhone!

If they could make the entire case out of sapphire with the display built into front and make the 'display' span the entire front, then Apple could make it so the back-facing camera could take a snapshot of what ever surface it is laid down on, and use that as the display's wallpaper, thus cloaking the iPhone into its environment, basically making it hidden. The iPhone then would have invisible capabilities!

 

[Radiating]

although Corning claims that its Gorilla Glass 3 outperforms sapphire at lower cost.

Gorilla Glass 3 does not in any way shape or form "outperform" sapphire glass overall. Gorilla Glass 3 has much lower scratch resistance, on the order of 10 times worse, but somewhat better shatter resistance. It's just a different product with different strengths.

The thing is you don't really need to increase the thickness of any kind of glass much to improve it's shatter resistance a lot but there is nothing you can do for scratch resistance. Considering that Apple is the only company that produces thin film touch screens, which are thinner than the competition an Apple thin film sapphire LCD display would have better shatter resistance and much better scratch resistance at the same thickness, although the cost would be way higher.