Report Claims GT Advanced Will Only Supply 9% - 16% of iPhone 6 Sapphire Displays

[Michael Scrip]

Can someone explain the logic of this to me? Build most of the phone out in china and then ship it to the US and then fit the display? And then ship to Australia? Or ship displays to China, and then the whole phone back to the US? Or build it all in the US? Or just fit this glass to US sold phones? Eh?

One shipping container can carry enough screens for many months worth of iPhones.

It's not like Apple will be shipping these screens one-at-a-time.

Besides... each iPhone is made of dozens of different parts to be assembled in China.

And Apple's supply orders are in the tens of millions for each part.

Shipping is the least of their concerns.

 

[ChrisA]

Can someone explain the logic of this to me? Build most of the phone out in china and then ship it to the US and then fit the display? And then ship to Australia? Or ship displays to China, and then the whole phone back to the US? Or build it all in the US? Or just fit this glass to US sold phones? Eh?

Simple: They make 100,000 or more sapphire covers in AZ then ship them all in one container to China where they get installed into the devices. Just exactly like what they do now with Corning glass which is made in the US and shipped in bulk to China. The almost all the other parts are made some place and shaped to the factory, the LCD screen come from Taiwan or Korea.

Think of the big Foxconn plant in China as the FINAL assembly plant, it's not where they make any of the parts, they are made in other plants around the world and shipped to Foxconn for assembly.

 

[ChrisA]

My guess is these are for watches, not phones.

But if they are used on phones then Apple will laminate only a very thin slice of Sapphire over base of glass.

But I hope I'm wrong. What I'd really like to see is Apple use the Sapphire to make a UNIBODY phone and watch. In other words the entire device is Saphirre, sides, back and front.

 

[gnasher729]

Can someone explain the logic of this to me? Build most of the phone out in china and then ship it to the US and then fit the display? And then ship to Australia? Or ship displays to China, and then the whole phone back to the US? Or build it all in the US? Or just fit this glass to US sold phones? Eh?

Logic is simple: Glass is manufactured in the USA, phone is assembled in China. You ship parts to where they are assembled. It's not really expensive. Maybe 20 shipping containers for a year's production, that's far less than $100,000.

 

[KdParker]

But that's the thing. Sapphire isn't going to be used on an iPhone screen. It's going to be used for small things like watch faces, fingerprint scanners, and camera lenses. It's not a marketing gimmick, it's being used cost effectively for small things that need to not get scratched.

I doubt the advantages of sapphire will ever outweigh the cost for something like a 4" screen, unless new technology comes along that produces much higher yields. Apple may someday get there, but on nowhere near the sort of timetable Digitimes claims. It's sheer lunacy coming from a highly unreliable source. I actually cannot think of a single thing Digitimes has ever gotten right.

True...but I just want to see the new larger iPhone so I can make a decision on which form factor I am going go with.

Tired of all the waiting for the redesign....

 

[mroldguy]

Thin sapphire

Mrumor gtat reply


Margolis is probably correct.

Apple is not stupid, not putting .5 bil into a sapphire plant to buy breakable 30$ display covers.

The gtat (GT Advanced Technologies) deal hinges on boule production prowess and a proprietary technology gtat calls 'Hyperion'.

All goes well, Hyperion will allow production of <20 micron wafers, absent diamond saw waste. The wafers could then be bonded to thin plastic to produce unscratchable and break-resistant covers, under 10$.

Under 5$ would sell hella product, make hella money for Apple.

 

[gnasher729]

Because shipping is cheap? Were you aware that Tyson flies chicken over to China to be cut up, and then fly those back to USA to sell?

And then it turns out that USA people prefer breast meat to thighs by such a large degree that the freezers full, so they fly the thighs and drumsticks back to China to sell...

Please tell my you are lying