Corning Gorilla Glass vs Sapphire Glass

During a recent earnings call at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, Corning was asked to compare its Gorilla Glass technology to Sapphire glass which is reported to be featured on Apple’s upcoming iPhone 6.

gorilla glass vs sapphire

When asked by James Fawcett of Morgan Stanley if it makes sense for manufacturers to consider Sapphire on their devices, Tony Tripeny of Corning responded saying that they see a lot of disadvantages of Sapphire versus Gorilla Glass.

“When we look at it, we see a lot of disadvantages of Sapphire versus Gorilla Glass. It’s about 10 times more expensive. It’s about 1.6 times heavier. It’s environmentally unfriendly. It takes about 100 times more energy to generate a Sapphire crystal than it does glass. It transmits less light which it means either dimmer devices or shorter battery life. It continues to break. I think while it’s scratch resistant product it still breaks and our testing says that Gorilla Glass, about 2.5 times more pressure that it can take than Sapphire on. So when we look at it, we think from an overall industry and trend that is not attractive in consumer electronics.”

In a nutshell, Gorilla Glass is better than Sapphire, at least from Corning’s perspective. Tripeny did admit, however, that Sapphire’s got “a very sexy name” which is good for marketing.

{via} {source}

Diangson Louie

This article was written by Louie Diangson, Managing Editor of YugaTech. You can follow him at @John_Louie.

https://www.yugatech.com

24 Comments

dags says:

11 years ago

Of course, every greedy company out there will always say that their product is better than a competing one. Companies can easily “bend the truth” for money.
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Miss Call says:

11 years ago

IKR? The subjective test results are just a ploy of the greedy company just so they can say that their product is better.
Mon says:

11 years ago

Sapphire glass hasn’t really convinced me yet, but you do have a point, the only way we can really be sure is to test it ourselves.

either way, it’s always great that we have a choice between products/parts :D
lolwut says:

11 years ago

That’s a part true. You also have to admit that at least Corning backs their claim with research and not just hiring someone with British accent to endorse their product like Apple does.
daniel says:

11 years ago

Agree with Lolwuts

If what Corning said are all true.. then I’m not for Sapphire… who needs a weaker glass than gorrilla glass? Who wants to use more energy to produce a weaker glass?

But sad to say, still there are some ignorant people who will get fascinated when they hear “Sapphire glass screen and sapphire camera glass” etc… well Sapphire is associated with jewelry.. of course mamahalin sa pandinig.
dags says:

11 years ago

@lolwut
It’s better to believe in a test conducted by an independent testing organization than believing in a test conducted by the creator of a product. Sure, Corning’s got some data to back their claim up but is it really a reliable test? Who knows, maybe Corning manipulated the “experiment variables” so that the results could favor to their own product?
lolwut says:

11 years ago

@dags

I understand your notion but who’s to say that any 3rd party evaluator can’t be paid? The way I see it is Apple is trying to start another trend in marketing their display. They are trying to instill into their consumers mind that Sapphire is more acceptable than glass, and people will just take it because “it came from Apple so it must be true”.
wew says:

11 years ago

XEMPRE MARKETING STRATEGY NILA TO,IMPOSIBLENG WALA SILANG PAIIKUTIN JAN NA INFO…KUNG SA PAGIGING SCRATCH-RESISTANT WALANG DUDA SAPPHIRE GLASS TALAGA,WALA PAKONG NAKIKITANG SCIENTIFC EXPERIMENT NITO PERO SA ISANG TECH CONVENTION EH KINASKAS NILA NG MALAKING BATO UNG SAPPHIRE,DI NAGSGAS KAHIT KAUNTI.IMPOSIBLENG GAWIN TO NG CORNING KASI MAPAPAHIYA SILA HAHA TSKA ISIPIN NYU TO:2nd hardest mineral,next to diamond.

testUser says:

11 years ago

I consider Rolex as one of the best in watchmaking. They have their own Research and Development department for everyones sake.

I think there is a reason why watchmakers, not only Rolex, use sapphire glass over gorilla glass. not just because its more expensive thus luxurious.
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lolwut says:

11 years ago

I think the blog made it sure that it’s tackling consumer electronics not watches. Given that it make’s a watch more luxurious doesn’t mean that it will make a smartphone more user-efficient. The article stated that Sapphire’s light distribution is dimmer than that of glass, this means that your device needs to pump more energy to brighten the screen for better visibility. Comparing these two products in terms of Sappire’s feasibility is apples and oranges.
testUser says:

11 years ago

pshh.. andaming sinabi.. wala naman ako sinabing tinatackle ng website na to ang watches.. nagcicite lang ng example..

maybe kaya din sapphire kasi baka magiging water resistant na rin ang iP6.. since sapphire gamit ng ilang divers watches, yun din siguro gagawin ng apple
Orange says:

11 years ago

Dude, Rolex is an automatic watch. There are no quartz Rolex – unless Greenhills Class A ito – much more digital ones. A watch with an automatic movement. With a relatively small diameter. How the heck did you come to compare a Rolex with a smartphone? Don’t even go to the so and so smartphone is the Rolex of smartphones territory. Gee….

psikick says:

11 years ago

sapphire is better at resisting scratches than glass.. that is why it is used in expensive watches and why apple is looking into using it for their products, because most of the time, the damage to screens results from everyday scratches. glass may be better than sapphire at handling breakage due to uneven pressure or blunt force, but since these rarely happen to devices (compared to scratches) one can see why apple is looking into it. it all boils down to compromise.

basically, both of them will break pa rin naman with enough force. :)
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Mr. Curious says:

11 years ago

if that 10 times more expensive than gorilla glass is true and apple wants this on their ip6, then apple is now slowly catching up with vertu! hahahaha
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Vern says:

11 years ago

I see but will it blend?
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aads says:

11 years ago

Useless ang scratch-proof na screen kung yung body eh hindi naman scratch proof.
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zaffron says:

11 years ago

If it will pose a threat to nature, then using sapphire as the screen must not materialize.

Apple has millions of followers patronizing their products in a global market scale. If that same number of customers would buy iphone 6, the effect may be fatal due to excessive mining. The Philippines and other 3rd world countries are more at risk.

Personally, I don’t want this plan of apple to push through. Luxury does not only cost money but possible abuse of the natural resources.

I’m not on the side of Corning, but they have a point. They wouldn’t release a statement without properly researching. Otherwise a lot of tech savvy individuals will disapprove their claim.
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Mir says:

11 years ago

my mga lab grown sapphire crystals po. hindi po un minamine :)

jip says:

11 years ago

“sexy name” hehe

si marian rivera, for sure sexy http://bit.ly/1lyEY7U
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Dan says:

11 years ago

IMHO
alumina can be recycled from aluminum around us,
any glass contains alumina too, including sapphire, but the process took some time than ordinary glass, that’s why there is renewable energy that could do the process to make a synthetic sapphire glass more efficient, like corning did with their high-alumina composition.
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jess credo says:

11 years ago

Use of saphire on gadget is not practical, as gadgets like smartphone and tablet are upgraded yearly, who would’ve hold on to their vertu like gingerbread, while every Juan is using their kitkat cherrys, unlike watches (pardon the comparison techies) that serves its purpose for decades to come and it adds to the value over time.
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'em says:

11 years ago

Why would I apply or would allow to be applied on, at the least, such a force to my gadget in the first place???

OK na sa akin yung scratch resistant feature.
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goodha says:

11 years ago

pag sinabing sapphire, naalala ko tuloy itong iconic brand in watchmaking.

Rado Diastar 1 – first scratch resistant watch (due to its sapphire crystal) in the world introduced in 1962. paborito ng mga ofw sa saudi.

kung apple ang gagamit ng sapphire, since napakamahal na brand, gamitin na lang nila yung technology ng Rado v10k which is the hardest watch in the world with a hardness of 10,000 vickers.
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abdulJakulSalsalani says:

11 years ago

eto po

http://www.cultofmac.com/269215/corning-unclear-sapphire-iphones/
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