Published in Mobiles

How Apple dumped Sapphire screens

by on15 September 2014

Not hard enough

Sapphire screens were part of the iPhone 6 design until the glass repeatedly cracked during standard drop tests.

According to VentureBeat supplier channel checks by an IDC analyst yielded several reports of the sapphire failures and Apple’s decision against using the glass material. Instead 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 said 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. GT Advanced Technologies, the company that was to produce the glass for the iPhone 6 hinted that plans for the sapphire screens were cancelled in August, just weeks before the September 9 launch.

The new Apple Watches 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.

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