Apple supplier Corning has already announced their new improved Gorilla Glass 4.
Gorilla Glass is the registered trademark for an alkali-aluminosilicate sheet toughened glass manufactured by U.S. glassmaker Corning Inc. Engineered for a combination of thinness, lightness, and damage-resistance, it is used primarily as the cover glass for portable electronic devices including mobile phones, portable media players, laptop computer displays, and some television screens. It is manufactured through immersion in a Molten Alkaline Salt Bath using ion exchange to produce compressive residual stress at the surface. This prevents cracks from propagating - for a crack to start, it will first have to overcome this compressive stress.
Since it's launched on 2007, Corning came up with Gorilla Glass 4, which is up to two times tougher than competitive glass. The company said it survives drops up to 80 percent of the time.
"Corning Gorilla Glass has outperformed competing materials, such as soda-lime glass and other strengthened glass, since it was introduced in 2007, and we're always innovating to push the limits of what glass can do," James R. Steiner, senior vice president and general manager of Corning specialty materials, said in a statement.
The company's scientists have examined hundreds of broken devices and found that more than 70 percent of breaks were caused by "sharp contact" with rough surfaces, including dropping of the phone onto pavement. Therefore, they develop a new drop-test method-- dropping devices face-down from one meter in height with 180-grit sandpaper, so that the glass came in direct contact with a rough surface.
"With Gorilla Glass 4, we have focused on significantly improving protection against sharp contact damage, which is the primary reason that mobile devices break. Dropping and breaking a phone is a common problem, and one that our customers have asked us to help address," Steiner added.
According to Cliff Hund, president of Corning East Asia, Gorilla Glass 4 "has no downsides", it has improved damage resistance but still allows for the same optical clarity as prior versions.
"I won't say we've wiped it out, but we've taken a real large chunk out of it," said Hund and so, admitted there are plus sides, but said Corning still thinks glass is the right choice for now.
"When it comes to visible scratch resistance, sapphire is top of the line."
"When you line up all the things that consumers are interested in, the Gorilla exceeds in more of them than any other material at this point in time," Hund stated.
Gorilla Glass has already been incorporated by nearly every major electronics maker in the industry such as Apple, Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, and Microsoft all use it on their smartphones, iPhones and tablets, in which according to Corning it's already shipping out Gorilla Glass 4 to partners and expects to see consumer devices using it within the quarter.
