Sunday, May 13, 2012

Corning Unveils 20% Thinner Gorilla Glass 2 – Will it be Used in Next Gen iPhone & iPad?

Corning officially announced the next generation Gorilla Glass  at CES 2012 yesterday.

Corning's Gorilla Glass is used in various electronic products such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, and TVs.

Corning claims:

New Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2 is now up to 20 percent thinner, enabling slimmer devices, better touch responsiveness, and brighter images without sacrificing the damage resistance consumers demand. The result is superior design flexibility for electronics manufacturers as they develop high performing, touch sensitive, and durable mobile devices.

To get a better idea, Gorilla Glass is 0.8 mm in thickness (original Gorilla Glass was 1 mm in thickness) and can withstand 121 pounds of pressure (same as the original Gorilla Glass).
Apple has previously also used Gorilla Glass for their iOS devices, however it is not clear if Apple uses it in the current generation of iOS devices.

MacRumors' Arnold Kim provides some interesting details:

Apple has previously used the strengthened glass in their iOS devices. In 2010, David Pogue relayed a claim from a scientist that Apple was the #1 customer for Gorilla Glass and buys "practically all the Gorilla Glass that Corning can make." At least parts of the story were confirmed in Steve Jobs' biography. Corning reportedly shelved the idea for Gorilla Glass back in the 1960s but revived the project at the request of Steve Jobs in 2007. The original iPhone launched with the damage-resistant glass, though there has been some debate about whether it still is being used in their most recent models. Corning, of course, has never acknowledged Apple's usage but says that due to "customer agreements", they can't identify all devices that use their Gorilla Glass.  

It remains to be seen if Apple will use Corning's Gorilla glass 2 in the next generation iOS devices that will be launched this year and if it will opt to go for 20% thinner glass, which still retains the same strength or keeps the thickness of the glass the same but offers greater strength.
Corning Unveils 20% Thinner Gorilla Glass 2 – Will it be Used in Next Gen iPhone & iPad?
Check out the video where Gorilla Glass 2 is put to test:

[source MacRumors]

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