Corning has debuted its new Gorilla Glass 4, a next-generation glass that it says is even more shatter-resistant than previous generations in drops to rough surfaces.
Corning says it extensively studied shattered screens to better understand how and why they break.
Corning scientists examined hundreds of broken devices and found that damage caused by sharp contact accounted for more than 70 percent of field failures. The scientists then developed new drop-test methods that simulate real-world break events, based on thousands of hours analyzing cover glass that had broken in the field or laboratory.
The new drop-test methods were then used by the scientists to drop devices face-down over a rough surface at the height of one meter. They found:
- Gorilla Glass 4 is up to two times tougher than competitive glasses
- Gorilla Glass 4 survives up to 80 percent of the time
- Soda-lime glass, as deployed in today’s commercial devices, breaks nearly 100 percent of the time.
Corning – a long-time supplier for Apple, who has used the company’s Gorilla Glass to protect the screens in its iPhones and iPads – is likely to continue to supply the über-tough material to the Cupertino firm, as Apple’s plans to use sapphire glass for its screens fell by the wayside with the bankruptcy of sapphire producing partner GT Advanced.
