Slashdot Mirror
Gorilla Glass-Maker Plans To Produce Glass Suitable For Folding iPhones (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: According to Wired, glass-maker Corning is "working on ultrathin, bendable glass that's 0.1 millimeters thick and can bend to a 5 millimeter radius" that may be usable for smartphone displays within two years. Corning produces Gorilla Glass used in Apple's iPhones, as well as in phones made by other manufacturers like LG, Asus, OnePlus, Nokia, Samsung, and more. Developing Gorilla Glass that can bend or fold like the materials used for the Samsung Galaxy Fold display or other foldable phone concepts could address some shortcomings endemic to these early designs.
The folding phones you see in headlines and gadget blog galleries today rely on plastic polymers that may scratch easier or have other undesirable properties. Generally, smartphone-makers that have announced foldable phones have not allowed us to test-drive these phones, which is otherwise normal practice for traditional smartphone product unveilings. That may be primarily because the software is not there yet, but it could also be that the companies anticipate negative reactions to the plastic displays, which have not been standard in flagship phones for a decade. [...] John Bayne, Corning's head of Gorilla Glass, and another expert Wired spoke with believe that Corning (or a competitor like ACG) will have foldable glass ready for use in foldable smartphones within a couple of years. But it's a difficult journey. "We have glasses we've sampled to customers, and they're functional," Bayne told Wired. "But they're not quite meeting all the requirements. People either want better performance against a drop event or a tighter bend radius. We can give them one or the other; the key is to give them both."
The folding phones you see in headlines and gadget blog galleries today rely on plastic polymers that may scratch easier or have other undesirable properties. Generally, smartphone-makers that have announced foldable phones have not allowed us to test-drive these phones, which is otherwise normal practice for traditional smartphone product unveilings. That may be primarily because the software is not there yet, but it could also be that the companies anticipate negative reactions to the plastic displays, which have not been standard in flagship phones for a decade. [...] John Bayne, Corning's head of Gorilla Glass, and another expert Wired spoke with believe that Corning (or a competitor like ACG) will have foldable glass ready for use in foldable smartphones within a couple of years. But it's a difficult journey. "We have glasses we've sampled to customers, and they're functional," Bayne told Wired. "But they're not quite meeting all the requirements. People either want better performance against a drop event or a tighter bend radius. We can give them one or the other; the key is to give them both."
"Gorilla Glass" is a really cool technology. Maybe we could have a discussion about using it for something other than people's personal entertainment addiction gadgets? I can't think of a more inane and ultimately useless use for such an amazing technology.
I don't respond to AC's.
I guess having a cell phone that opens like a paperback book increases usability/viewing area but is anybody looking at turning something the size of a USB thumb drive into a full sized cell phone by unrolling it in the vertical ("Y") direction?
In a lot of ways, that would be a lot more interesting to me - have something small that I can just use as a phone with a minimal screen for seeing who's calling and select a number to call and expand when I need to access other features/apps on the device.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
Screen protectors?
The parent is rather annoyed because we've taken a cool technology and pretty much limited it
Except that there is no "limit". If he, or you, have another application, Corning will be happy to talk to you. There are other companies, including Schott and AGC, that also make scratch resistant glass. Go for it.
to one kind of disposable electronics.
... that is used daily by four billion people, in many cases greatly improving their economic well-being.