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Sapphire Glass Didn't Pass iPhone Drop Test According to Reports

SternisheFan notes reports about why Apple didn't use sapphire glass screens in the latest iPhones as many expected. Sapphire screens were part of the iPhone 6 design until the glass repeatedly cracked during standard drop tests conducted by Apple suppliers. So Apple abandoned its sapphire plans before the iPhone 6 product launch September 9. VentureBeat has learned that recent supplier channel checks by an IDC analyst yielded several reports of the sapphire failures and Apple's decision against using the glass material. As we heard on Tuesday in Cupertino, both the iPhone 6 and the larger iPhone 6 Plus will ship with screens made of "ion-strengthened" glass. This was apparently Apple's second choice. IDC analyst Danielle Levitas says it isn't clear when exactly the drop-test failures took place, or when Apple abandoned plans for sapphire-screened iPhones. She says the poor drop-test results, combined with the relative high cost of sapphire glass, could have made plans to ship sapphire glass phones too risky. One researcher who covers GT Advanced Technologies, the company that was to produce the glass for the iPhone 6, wrote in a research note earlier this week that plans for the sapphire screens were cancelled in August, just weeks before the September 9 launch. The new Apple Watches (except the "Sport" version) do use sapphire for their screens. Levitas believes that the glass for the smaller 1.5-inch and 1.7-inch watch screens was less likely to break in drop tests.

3 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Just Apple? by shitzu · · Score: 2, Funny

    I dropped my iphone 5 from 2 meters (i leave it to the Americans to make out how many badger's kidneys it is) to a hard, stone floor. Glass intact.

  2. Re:didn't have to be worse.. by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... but it WAS worse. It broke easier when dropped. And EVERYONE drops their phone at one point or another.

    When a visibly peeved Apple rep was asked for comment, they said "We found we couldn't drop it, so we dropped it. Now can you drop it?"

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  3. Re:Ion strengthened? by TeknoHog · · Score: 3, Funny

    Regular glass doesn't contain any ions, in the same way that regular vegetables don't contain any genes.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.