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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*

Some people take better care if their phones than others though, I've seen way too many shattered ip's as of late.
 
Or....

What if the entire exterior of the phone is made of sapphire? Could the entire phone then be the display also?

I'm asking because it sounds cool, but I don't know if that's even possible.
 
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*

All serious (expensive) watches use sapphire to cover the dial. No matter how careful you are, you WILL bump into things with your watch if it's constantly on your wrist.

Having said that, I do think all this investment into sapphire is for an iWatch where the scratch resistance properties would actually be worth the effort.

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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

Who says this is for the iPhone?
 
there is no way that apple is making this entire manufacturing facility for just a 1.5" screen. They can outsource that especially since they will not sell as many iWatches as iPhones.

The sapphire screens will be incorporated into iPhones and iPads as well (maybe later on). I wouldn't be surprised if eventually MacBooks get the sapphire screen as well.
 
So theoretically, what's the benefit to a sapphire display cover? More shatter-resistant? I haven't ever thought about the display on my iPhone. I don't know that using a new material that doesn't change much will be a huge selling point.

This is Apple we're talking about here. It's all about value.

If you look only at the material cost of saphire vs. gorilla, saphire looks more expensive. But, if you include the cost of repairing the face of broken iPhones, it becomes more cost effective to use something that is far more resistant to breakage. This may have a lot of value after all.

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there is no way that apple is making this entire manufacturing facility for just a 1.5" screen.

Perhaps the new Apple Campus and Store exteriors will be built using saphire glass. The New York store needs it now!
 
Yes, Apple should make an exception and do a production run of ONE unit with the same screen as the current for you when they make the change :)

OK, OK, sheesh. I can only speak from my own experience. I didn't know this was an issue. I never thought I was all that ginger with my device. :p
 
I agree. We've heard all kinds of rumors about sapphire being used for phones, home buttons, and camera lens covers. I believe that Apple may be testing it for those purposes, but that it has already been selected for the iWatch face.

It makes a ton of sense given the strength and scratch resistance required for something like a watch that will be beaten daily.

Right, and a lot of watches use it and have for years, so it certainly makes sense.

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What if the entire exterior of the phone is made of sapphire? Could the entire phone then be the display also?

I'm asking because it sounds cool, but I don't know if that's even possible.

Well, if they're going to make an entire phone out of a gemstone, I'm holding out for the all-diamond version.
 
My cousin bought this watch with sapphire glass – I think it was a Seiko –*that had anti-reflective coating. Usually you can see this as the reflexions are tinted green or blue. But on this watch I literally couldn't see the glass at all. It looked incredible. Usually sapphire glass is quite prone to reflexions as the refractive index is higher (something like 1.8 I think. Glas is usually around 1.5), so this is probably something Apple might want to add.
 
Sapphire use:
2012 - iSight lense
2013 - Touch ID home button
2014 - iWatch
2015 - Full screen

I spoke to someone who worked at GT and a sister company a few years back when they were in direct talks with apple about using sapphire. He alluded to bigger plans, but said they were focusing on small steps first. It seems pretty clear that they are working to ramp up production and get the cost down before committing to something bigger and that AZ facility would make sense for a late 2014 iWatch.
 
Sapphire use:
2012 - iSight lense
2013 - Touch ID home button
2014 - iWatch
2015 - Full screen

I spoke to someone who worked at GT and a sister company a few years back when they were in direct talks with apple about using sapphire. He alluded to bigger plans, but said they were focusing on small steps first. It seems pretty clear that they are working to ramp up production and get the cost down before committing to something bigger and that AZ facility would make sense for a late 2014 iWatch.


The timeline looks fairly possible..I think the iWatch would be the initial candidate because it would allow apple to make the device better (its gonna take a bigger beating compared to a pocketable phone) and would allow them to slowly ramp up production as it would probably not require the ammount of sapphire as an iPhone would.
 
Just fanwanking,

If Apple went with an edge to edge display, possibly rendering a lot of cases/bumpers useless, the screen better be a lot stronger.

That said, this looks like iWatch territory. While I could not see Apple making the iPhone waterproof, I sure hope they can for the iWatch.

More fanwanking, but Apple likes to make products that can complement each other. The current AppleTV is great when paired with an iDevice/Mac, using AirPlay to extend functionality of an application. You want a bigger screen? Get an iPad. You want to take a device in the shower? Get an iWatch?

Side note: Apparently the lightning connector is waterproof!
 
So theoretically, what's the benefit to a sapphire display cover? More shatter-resistant? I haven't ever thought about the display on my iPhone. I don't know that using a new material that doesn't change much will be a huge selling point.
You haven't thought about it, but Apple has. Steve Jobs had to convince Corning to produce Gorilla glas, which they had developed in the 60ies, but never found a commercial use for it. Sapphire is just the newest in material research.
 
AppleInLVX said:
So theoretically, what's the benefit to a sapphire display cover? More shatter-resistant? I haven't ever thought about the display on my iPhone. I don't know that using a new material that doesn't change much will be a huge selling point.

As they are talking about using very thin films of sapphire it could be bonded to the surface of soft shatter resistant glass to make a display that is both shatter proof and scratch proof which is the holy grail for display glass. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

Hope you're right about the composite. Sapphire's the second hardest light-transmissible material, but when it shatters, it (like a diamond as well) really shatters...
 
Hope you're right about the composite. Sapphire's the second hardest light-transmissible material, but when it shatters, it (like a diamond as well) really shatters...

Which is why Apple's implementation of laminating it in/under Gorilla glass makes a lot of sense.
 
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*

If you don't have a screen protector, I'd bet the house you have tons of little scratches all over the glass. Maybe not big, noticible ones. But rather hundreds of tiny ones. I keep my stuff pristine, but I didn't use a screen protrector on last years iP5 and while the display looked awesome, if you held it at a certain angle under a light, you could see a ton of scratches. Just the way it is. There is just no way possible your screen is not scratched if you use it & carry it with you every day. No matter how careful you are.

Sapphire screens would be a much welcomed addition to the iPhone.
 
l cost of saphire vs. gorilla, saphire looks more expensive. But, if you include the cost of repairing the face of broken iPhones, it becomes more cost effective to use something that is far more resistant to breakage. This may have a lot of value after all.

I don't think sapphire is more resistant to breakage. At least, not unless it's made a lot thicker than current smartphone glass, or bonded to it.

You haven't thought about it, but Apple has. Steve Jobs had to convince Corning to produce Gorilla glas, which they had developed in the 60ies, but never found a commercial use for it.

According to Corning's FAQ:

IS IT TRUE THAT GORILLA GLASS WAS ORIGINALLY DEVELOPED IN THE 1960S?

"No. That has been a popular myth, which apparently resulted from a misunderstanding of the facts. "

"It’s true that Corning experimented with chemically strengthened glass in 1960, as part of an initiative called “Project Muscle.” In 1961, Corning developed a glass composition it promoted under the Chemcor® brand, which featured state-of-the-art strength and durability. Chemcor glass was incorporated into tableware, ophthalmic products, and applications for the automotive, aviation, and pharmaceutical industries.

"When Corning began developing a tough new cover glass for electronic devices in 2006, Corning scientists, of course, drew upon the company’s prior expertise with strengthened glass. However, Corning Gorilla Glass is a different product and glass composition than Chemcor. (...)"
 
Sapphire is second only to diamond in scratch
I believe they were getting at the fact that diamond is the only thing more scratch resistant, and thus would start with the small home button, unfortunately diamond is too expensive thanks to sellers hoarding them in unbelievable quantities in vaults to keep the price high.
Industrial diamonds are manufactured as much as mined (if not more). But the application of diamond in a resistance setting is not like growing a crystal per se. It can be applied as a micro-crystalline coating, which, if the electrical properties work, would be fine for a home button, all else being equal. And I don't know that they are.
 
Shattering sapphire

Oddly enough, I don't have too many problems scratching my phone screens (I cary a 5 and a 5S in the same pocket, one naked and one in a case so I can feel the difference when fishing them out of my pocket, and so they don't beat each other up in my pocket), but I have shattered two sapphire watch crystals, and scratched a few as well. Diamond bracelet means remember not to cross your arms, or your bracelet will remind your watch that while 9 is impressive, it ain't a 10!
 
iOS and softwares are as important as the hardware's quality of build. Today's iOS is not just good as before, full of bugs and crashes,white colors that eating battery and make you either cry or change your device's angle, things that were not exist before or were exist at its lowest and was a truly advantage over OSes like Android, It is good to see Apple using new materials but they have to fix the ecosystem too...
 
You know, it never made sense in the first place to construct glass out of gorillas. Constructing the glass out of sapphire seems like a notable improvement to me.

why? GG was more durable and flexible than glass. and since youve never used a rumored sapphire display, how can it seem a "notable improvement"? youve never touched nor seen one, let alone used or tested one.
 
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.

Agreed. Water resistance alone would be huge (then I can stop putting my phone in a snack size ziplock when out on a ride...), but paired with real scratch resistance it becomes a no brainer.
 
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