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Corning's New Gorilla Glass 6 Will Let Your Phones Survive 15 Drops (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the don't-try-this-at-home dept.

Corning just announced its most durable glass yet: Gorilla Glass 6. "The company says that the glass will survive up to 15 drops from a one meter height and can be 'up to two times better' than Gorilla Glass 5," reports The Verge. From the report: As phones get slimmer and have ever sleeker glass displays, reports have appeared that the slimness may actually cancel out the improvements in new iterations of Gorilla Glass, since thinner glass is weaker glass, even if it's become stronger. Still Corning argues that sleek edge-to-edge displays have actually led to stronger smartphones. Sometimes, in smartphones of previous years, the bezel would crack first, then leading to a weakness in the glass. There's also a tradeoff between drop resistance and scratch resistance, which Corning has admitted to in the past. Corning says that Gorilla Glass 6 will have the same amount of scratch resistance as previous generations. So although the company claims the new generation of Gorilla Glass is "better," you shouldn't expect new phones made with the glass to be more scratch-resistant. The first devices to feature Gorilla Glass 6 are expected to arrive near the end of the year.

55 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Oh the fools! by quonset · · Score: 2

    If only they'd built it to withstand 16 drops! When will they learn?

    1. Re:Oh the fools! by Zaelath · · Score: 1

      The glass in my last phone survived the drop just fine, but the LCD underneath it cracked like some marital arts master breaking the middle brick...

    2. Re:Oh the fools! by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      The real test is ultimately in the interpretation of the up to modifier.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    3. Re:Oh the fools! by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      My phones have always handled any drops, without problems. Any damage has occurred at the time of impact - but the phone is no longer dropping at that point.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    4. Re:Oh the fools! by jrumney · · Score: 1

      Due to the limitations of the bitmask, when they tried to extend it to 16 drops, the screen kept self destructing when it hadn't been dropped at all. They could have worked around this in the factory by quickly dropping it once before it has a chance to break, but the effective drop count to the user becomes 15 anyway.

    5. Re:Oh the fools! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      “Up to" means "less than".

      I have up to a billion dollars in my pocket.

    6. Re:Oh the fools! by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      From the desk of Wendell Weeks, Chairman, President and CEO of Corning, Inc.

      Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the fucking vanguard of smart phone glass in this country. The Gorilla Glass 4 was the glass to own. Then the other guy came out with a 14 drop glass. Were we scared? Hell, no. Because we hit back with a little thing called the Gorilla Glass 5. That's good to 15 drops on concrete. From 1 meter. But you know what happened next? Shut up, I'm telling you what happenedâ"the bastards went to 16 drops. Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, selling 15 drop glass. Meter height or no, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to 20 drops.

      Sure, we could go to 16 drops, like the competition. That seems like the logical thing to do. After all, 15 worked out pretty well, and 16 is the next number after 15. So let's play it safe. Let's make it tougher and call it Gorilla Glass 7. Why innovate when we can follow? Oh, I know why: Because we're a business, that's why!

      You think it's crazy? It is crazy. But I don't give a shit. From now on, we're the ones who have the edge in the multi-drop tests. Are they the best a man can get? Fuck, no. Corning is the best a man can get.

      What part of this don't you understand? If 15 drops is good, and 16 drops is better, obviously 20 drops would make us the best fucking glass that ever existed. Comprende? We didn't claw our way to the top of the glass game by clinging to the 10 drop standard. We got here by taking chances. Well, 20 drops is the biggest chance of all.

      Here's the report from Engineering. Someone put it in the bathroom: I want to wipe my ass with it. They don't tell me what to inventâ"I tell them. And I'm telling them to stick five more drops in there. I don't care how. Make the silicon so dense it's like neutronium. Put some fucking carbon nanotubes in the batter. I don't care if they have to invent and cram transparent aluminum in there.

      You're taking the "safety" part of "safety glass" too literally, grandma. Cut the strings and soar. Let's hit it. Let's roll. This is our chance to make glass history. Let's dream big. All you have to do is say that 20 drops can happen, and it will happen. If you aren't on board, then fuck you. And if you're on the board, then fuck you and your father. Hey, if I'm the only one who'll take risks, I'm sure as hell happy to hog all the glory when the 20 drop glass becomes the smart phone glass for the U.S. of "this is how we view, swipe, and select now" A.

      Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we should just ride in DragonTails wake and make kinda strong windows. Ha! Not on your fucking life! The day I shadow a penny-ante outfit like DragonTail is the day I leave the glass game for good, and that won't happen until the day I die!

      The market? Listen, we make the market. All we have to do is put her out there with a little jingle. It's as easy as, "Hey, carrying a phone good for only 15 drops is like using a cracker for an athletic cup." Or "You'll be so cool, women will line up to suck you off." Try "you phone will be so in the fucking win they'll walk up and tie a fucking olympic gold metal to it"

      I know what you're thinking now: What'll people say? Mew mew mew. Oh, no, what will people say?! Grow the fuck up. When you're on top, people talk. That's the price you pay for being on top. Which Corning is, always has been, and forever shall be, Amen, twenty drops, sweet Jesus in heaven!

    7. Re:Oh the fools! by just+another+AC · · Score: 1

      “Up to" means "less than".

      I have up to a billion dollars in my pocket.

      That is the OP's point. Up to gives no meaningful information

      I can certify any glass can withstand a million falls of "up to" a metre - by having those million falls be from a millimeter high.

    8. Re:Oh the fools! by just+another+AC · · Score: 1

      Similarly 0 falls of 1m is also "up to" 15

    9. Re:Oh the fools! by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      That is the OP's point. Up to gives no meaningful information

      Yes it does. If it can be dropped "up to" 15 times, that tells you it is guaranteed to break on or before the 16th drop.

      "Up to" specifies a maximum, not a minimum.

      Will it always break by the 16th drop? Unlikely, because the article is poorly worded crap, but certainly not because the phrase "up to" lacks mathematical rigor.

    10. Re: Oh the fools! by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      I haven't read it since they either, this is the only thing I remember that was funny.

      I agree I should have put attribution there:

      https://www.theonion.com/fuck-...

    11. Re: Oh the fools! by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      I think the problem is part of your phone is still falling but part of it is not

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re: Oh the fools! by donstenk · · Score: 1

      My last iPhone 6 did not crack in 3 years.

      My new X got scratched by keys in the first month and cracked at the first drop.

      Really fed up with jewellery design instead of a practical design.

      All this glass makes it heavy as well.

      --
      Dennis Onstenk
  2. Re:So by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's a four bit material.

  3. On What? by djbckr · · Score: 1

    15 drops on what? A pillow? I kid of course, but the headline/summary mean nothing. My phone has gorilla glass and it's great.

    1. Re:On What? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      15 drops of water.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:On What? by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Drop on whatever. Phones have accelerometers and other sensors that can account for the actual number of drops. You can't fool the 15 count.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  4. Take a clue from Motorola's shatershield tech by williamyf · · Score: 2

    IS five layers, with two digitizers.

    Yes, it can be scratched, but they sell replaceable top layers for the beasts...

    Much better than this gorilla GLASS thing. I mean, IS GLASS!!! By definition GLASS BREAKS!

    More info here:
    https://www.androidauthority.c...

    --
    *** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
    1. Re:Take a clue from Motorola's shatershield tech by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      By definition GLASS BREAKS

      What dictionary did you roll up and smoke?

  5. warranty void at one! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    warranty void at one!

    1. Re:warranty void at one! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      FTFY. Fedex / ups will pre-drop your phone 14 times.

  6. Strength vs hardness comes into play yet again by sandbagger · · Score: 1

    When will people stop being surprised at things like this?

    --
    ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
    1. Re:Strength vs hardness comes into play yet again by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      We used to fucking joke that your phone had X drops in it before eminent need for replacement... Moral? Be careful what you joke for.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    2. Re:Strength vs hardness comes into play yet again by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      A new app "Drop count" will tell you how many drops the phone suffered. At 14, be careful.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  7. I've dropped my Android more than that by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it's a $250 el cheap and has survived several pavement drops. The key is it's got a cheap, thin plastic back and a (by today's standards) thick bezel. Unless it lands on a rock it's fine.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:I've dropped my Android more than that by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      $250 is el cheap? My phone was $120 but after I bought it, I saw it about a month later on clearance for $80. It works pretty good, has lasted over a year now.

    2. Re:I've dropped my Android more than that by jimbo · · Score: 1

      Mine has glass back and probably wouldn't deal well with a pavement drop. But then I haven't dropped it since I got it three years ago. There's still a chance; I plan to get a new phone this October.

      For me it's all about phone size. I'm quite safe with smaller phones (5-6" screens, current is 5.1) but I tend to fumble more with phablets and thus avoid them.

      Anyway, anecdotes...

    3. Re:I've dropped my Android more than that by infolation · · Score: 1

      I dropped my £20 Nokia 105 down a 5-storey fire-escape onto solid concrete a few months ago. Still works fine. I reckon it could do 15 fire-escape drops. It laughs at 1-metre drops.

  8. What are the test conditions? by mykepredko · · Score: 2

    I'm wondering how "real world" they are.

    I know something about packaging testing and you want to drop a box on each of it's six sides, six corners and along each of the eight edges.

    How does that relate to a phone? What kind of tests do you do and what kind of surfaces? You can drop a box on concrete, metal or wood and you'll get the same answer. But if you drop a phone on different surfaces and at different angles, you'll see different problems with the glass and the frame.

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
  9. Samsonite Phone by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    But we have 16 gorillas.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  10. Old school glass by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    I don't know if it's still there, but Corning had an exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago that would drop an iron ball on a plate of glass. It had probably dropped thousands of times before I saw it. Pretty cool. Pretty old, too.

    1. Re: Old school glass by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      It just has to impress schoolkids and give them something to look up to science about.

      It doesn't need to impress jaded nerds on Slashdot.

  11. Re:So by gravewax · · Score: 2

    that's an "UP TO 15 drops", it may break on the first!

  12. Re:So by Alwin+Henseler · · Score: 1

    I've always preferred hex glass myself. More drops per digit, y' know.

  13. "up to" by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    So maybe 15 drops, maybe 1

    1. Re:"up to" by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      "the glass will survive up to 15 drops". There is a counter on the phone SSD. Each time the phone drops, the OS does 'counter--'. When counter reaches 0, the phone activates a tiny hammer that hits at a very specific place. In order to survive more than 15 drops, switch off the phone before throwing it to the ground.

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  14. Compared to Gorilla Glass 3? by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    I dropped a 2014 Moto X on the train once. First time ever dropped, screen shattered. I assume the floor of the train was vinyl covered steel.

    1. Re:Compared to Gorilla Glass 3? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      It clearly says "up to" 15 drops. That's like the "up to" 100mbit you get on your internet connection. Maybe 100mbit around 4am, more likely 1kbit around prime time.

      Remember: "0 times" is still well within any "up to" number.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  15. Western Electric never needed this by jabberw0k · · Score: 1

    My current Model 500 has been dropped perhaps hundreds of times over the last five decades. I only worry about what I drop it on.

    1. Re:Western Electric never needed this by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      You should upgrade to a 2500 set. Touch tone dialing is a big improvement.

  16. Re:Enough !! Please stop slimming down the phone by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

    I want my phone to be about 3/8" thick, and sport a large battery, a USB host connector and two external SD card slots.

    It doesn't need to have an ethernet jack.

  17. Yes, to put in in out inch-thick OtterBox case by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Yes, we all need a 2mm phone with no bezel, to out in our inch-thick OtterBox which provides a 1/2 inch bezel.

  18. 64 drops ought to be enough for anybody by raymorris · · Score: 1

    64 drops ought to be enough for anybody
    - BG

  19. 16 Drop Death Punch by grungeman · · Score: 1

    Somehow rings a bell, I'm sure I heard that before.

    --

    Signature deleted by lameness filter.
  20. Re:So by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

    It's a y2k-like bug ; if the phone drops 16 times, it's back to 0.

    --
    Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
  21. Holy Gorilla Glass by Daralantan · · Score: 2

    15 shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be 15. 16 shalt thou not count, neither count thou 14, excepting that thou then proceed to 15. 17 is right out. Once the number 15, being the 15th number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Gorilla Glass of Antioch towards thy foe.

    1. Re:Holy Gorilla Glass by skovnymfe · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't you be lobbing the iPhone, not just the glass?

    2. Re:Holy Gorilla Glass by DaveSewhuk · · Score: 1

      15 and not a bit more for that field.

    3. Re:Holy Gorilla Glass by OutOnARock · · Score: 1

      and blow him to bits

      in thy mercy

  22. Re:Either that, or by JMJimmy · · Score: 1

    Gorilla glass seems so uninteresting after https://www.popularmechanics.c...

  23. Re:16th drop is a bitch by sabbede · · Score: 1

    Then it's a race to the patent office!

  24. Challenge accepted!! by neo-mkrey · · Score: 1

    'nuff said

  25. Up to by bagofbeans · · Score: 1

    But if someone says that they took the stairs up to the roof, if they stopped halfway and then came down, then the claim would be untrue...

  26. As phones get slimmer ... by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    ...the battery covers we put on them get bigger.

  27. Extended SG1 rules apply by Mats+Svensson · · Score: 1

    15 drops turns the phone off.
    16 drops bricks it.
    17 drops vaporizes it