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Sapphire glass?

CLS7

CLS7

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 13, 2016
296
125
Malmoe, Sweden
I am thinking of buying my first Apple watch. There's just one problem, the screen doesn't seem to be sapphire, instead it's some hard material of some kind.

I am very sensitive to scratches, if there is a scratch I will be looking at it all the time which ruins the experience.

Does any of the series 8 have sapphire glass? I know the ultra model has it but it's way too expensive.
 
CLS7 said:
I am thinking of buying my first Apple watch. There's just one problem, the screen doesn't seem to be sapphire, instead it's some hard material of some kind.

I am very sensitive to scratches, if there is a scratch I will be looking at it all the time which ruins the experience.

Does any of the series 8 have sapphire glass? I know the ultra model has it but it's way too expensive.
Click to expand...

All the Stainless Steel models have sapphire glass. If you go the Aluminium, then no sapphire.
 
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Is that sapphire or “sapphire” like mentioned post before used for lenses where it’s only having particles of sapphire.


I hope Jerry or someone else will test AW Ultra screen. Personally I will be very dissapointed if again Apple will lie about sapphire.
 
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I suggest getting a screen cover for your watch, if you are going to be constantly looking over the screen for scratches all the time. I never had a problem with screen scratches when I was wearing the SS model but, it can happen. A lot of times what people see is a scratch to the oleophobic coating on the screen and not the actual glass.
 
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I don’t care what anyone says, hybrid sapphire or not, I’m a believer in it.

I ran my SBTi S6 pretty good along a rock while digging a trench. Scratched the casing to crap but the damaged stopped at the glass. This would’ve completely destroyed the IonX screen. I’ve had both and coughing on the IonX would scratch it.
 
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Itinj24 said:
I don’t care what anyone says, hybrid sapphire or not, I’m a believer in it.

I ran my SBTi S6 pretty good along a rock while digging a trench. Scratched the casing to crap but the damaged stopped at the glass. This would’ve completely destroyed the IonX screen. I’ve had both and coughing on the IonX would scratch it.
Click to expand...
This, 100%. My S3 had plenty scratches on Ion-X and I have since only had Sapphire with no issues, well, I did have scratches on my SBSS S4 but that got exchanged thru AC+ for other reasons.
 
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CLS7 said:
I am thinking of buying my first Apple watch. There's just one problem, the screen doesn't seem to be sapphire, instead it's some hard material of some kind.

I am very sensitive to scratches, if there is a scratch I will be looking at it all the time which ruins the experience.

Does any of the series 8 have sapphire glass? I know the ultra model has it but it's way too expensive.
Click to expand...
I have the Series 6 with the stainless steel case. My screen has been virtually indestructible. It does not have a single scratch on it. It is made of sapphire glass. I am in construction and I was looking for the same protection as you. I have scraped and impacted it, accidentally, along a brick wall and it did nothing to it. I am so amazed at how hard and durable it is. It is my understanding that the stainless steel and titanium cases are the only watches that use sapphire glass. The watch did cost me a few hundred more than the base model but it was so worth it.
 
Itinj24 said:
I don’t care what anyone says, hybrid sapphire or not, I’m a believer in it.

I ran my SBTi S6 pretty good along a rock while digging a trench. Scratched the casing to crap but the damaged stopped at the glass. This would’ve completely destroyed the IonX screen. I’ve had both and coughing on the IonX would scratch it.
Click to expand...

I’ve coughed on my ion-x and no scratches. Maybe just take better care of your stuff? It’s not as terrible as you and some others suggest.
 
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I had series 4 for four years. I think it got one scratch on the screen. Apple's sapphire display is legit. If you're worried about scratches, your only options are stianless steel or titanium since both come with sapphire displays. Personally, the aluminum models look cheap and I don't want to wear something like that.
 
Howard2k said:
I’ve coughed on my ion-x and no scratches. Maybe just take better care of your stuff? It’s not as terrible as you and some others suggest.
Click to expand...
I do take care of my stuff but I’m not in a position to nurse my left wrist 24/7. I do a lot of my own work around the house and it requires using my hands and arms to do heavy lifting.

I was sarcastically exaggerating about the cough (can’t believe I actually have to mention this) but it is a fact that the sapphire screen is more scratch resistant than the IonX. It is also a fact that my SGAl S4 showed permanent micro blemishes at the edges from removing and adding a TPU case.

If you think rubbing your IonX screen against rock won’t completely chew it up, then go give it a try lol. Yes it is that terrible when compared to the sapphire. I’ve had both to compare. Have you? There’s a reason why I’m not the only one saying this. It’s usually the ones that never owned the sapphire models that defend the IonX so much.
 
Itinj24 said:
I do take care of my stuff but I’m not in a position to nurse my left wrist 24/7. I do a lot of my own work around the house and it requires using my hands and arms to do heavy lifting.

I was sarcastically exaggerating about the cough (can’t believe I actually have to mention this) but it is a fact that the sapphire screen is more scratch resistant than the IonX. It is also a fact that my SGAl S4 showed permanent micro blemishes at the edges from removing and adding a TPU case.

If you think rubbing your IonX screen against rock won’t completely chew it up, then go give it a try lol. Yes it is that terrible when compared to the sapphire. I’ve had both to compare. Have you?
Click to expand...


I haven’t tried the Sapphire. I’m not suggesting that it’s not more scratch resistant. It obviously is. I’m just suggesting that the ion-x is not going to scratch if you cough on it. I keep mine on my dominant wrist and so far no scratches in the glass, but one tiny nick in the aluminum. It’s quite feasible to take care of it and not have it look like it’s been dragged behind a car for 10 miles.

It obviously will scratch eventually if worn for long enough. Accidents do happen, and if they do the sapphire will be better at resisting scratches (but less effective at resisting cracks, if I understand correctly). Over time it will surely age better.

But if you don’t plan on keeping it for a long time (and don’t need cellular) then aluminium appears to be a far better way to get more frequent updates, and they hold their value far batter for re-sale.
 
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Howard2k said:
I haven’t tried the Sapphire. I’m not suggesting that it’s not more scratch resistant. It obviously is. I’m just suggesting that the ion-x is not going to scratch if you cough on it. I keep mine on my dominant wrist and so far no scratches in the glass, but one tiny nick in the aluminum. It’s quite feasible to take care of it and not have it look like it’s been dragged behind a car for 10 miles.

It obviously will scratch eventually if worn for long enough. Accidents do happen, and if they do the sapphire will be better at resisting scratches (but less effective at resisting cracks, if I understand correctly). Over time it will surely age better.

But if you don’t plan on keeping it for a long time then aluminium appears to be a far better way to get more frequent updates, and they hold their value far batter for re-sale.
Click to expand...
So we’re in agreement… Other than the cough part. You just gotta get some COVID deep lung air with the semi hard mucus droplets. Look out!

Hermes happens to have a great resale value too.
 
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This may should daft to some but at home I ALWAYS have a wrist sweat band in my pocket.
Whenever I do anything in the gym, garden & DIY or anytime I think what I'm doing may result in a knock or two to my wrist, I put it on.

I used to throw caution to the wind as for many years I thought the DLC Space Black was bombproof. I'd banged/scraped the watch countless times over the years with not a single mark on the watches or link bracelet.
This gave me 100% confidence, but I put a scratch on the link bracelet when gardening one day when it touched a concrete trough.

This goes for the screen too. Never had so much as a tiny mark on any of my Apple Watches glass and want to keep it that way.

So now I just slip the sweat band on when I feel I need to and worry no more.
I'll be doing the same with the Ultra.
 
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I had an SS series 0 and that display to this day is perfect.

I kept the series 0 until the series 5 came out and decided to go cheaper and get the alu model. My screen is scratched to hell on it and has been since within the first 6 months. Going forward I will be sticking with the sapphire displays only starting with the Ultra I ordered.
 
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the apple commercials showed someone banging their screen on mountainous rocks, better be sapphire or #screengate
 
Anyone know of a way to get rid of hairline scratches on the glass/coating of the Aluminum apple watch - I've just noticed a couple of hairlines on my S7 watch and its hard to unsee them now!
 
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addamas said:
Is that sapphire or “sapphire” like mentioned post before used for lenses where it’s only having particles of sapphire.

I hope Jerry or someone else will test AW Ultra screen. Personally I will be very dissapointed if again Apple will lie about sapphire.
Click to expand...
It's not solid sapphire glass, as you'd find in a watch that doesn't have a touch screen. The "crystal" in an Apple Watch is a complicated sandwich that contains a lot of different layers. I've never had problems with the Ion-X glass but the sapphire "crystals" look better (clearer) out of the box and are likely to look better after a year or two of daily wear. OTOH, resale value of the more expensive models that have sapphire crystals isn't much higher than the aluminum/Ion-X watches, so check your expectations on that before you buy. :)
 
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newellj said:
It's not solid sapphire glass, as you'd find in a watch that doesn't have a touch screen. The "crystal" in an Apple Watch is a complicated sandwich that contains a lot of different layers. I've never had problems with the Ion-X glass but the sapphire "crystals" look better (clearer) out of the box and are likely to look better after a year or two of daily wear. OTOH, resale value of the more expensive models that have sapphire crystals isn't much higher than the aluminum/Ion-X watches, so check your expectations on that before you buy. :)
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Not really.
If you buy titanium drills and they are only partly titanium and all stats are worse than expected you can feel disappointed as I am.

If screen scratches when it should not due to name of product of its “glass” then there is a problem.
 
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