Apple Gambles $700M on Sapphire iPhone Display

chinomoreno — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 11:24:07 +0800

Every cell phone owner is familiar with the overwhelming feeling of dread when your device slips out of your hand or gets knocked off a table. Did it scratch? Can I still send Snapchats through the cracked screen?

Apple's next-generation iPhone may ease those fears. The company is rumored to be replacing its Gorilla Glass screen with a new sapphire glass display made by partner GT Advanced Technologies.

But that sort of relief doesn't come cheap. According to The Wall Street Journal, Cupertino is gambling $700 million on the harder, more flexible material.

Typically used in airplane windows and armored vehicles to protect against extreme conditions, the massively expensive sapphire is often used only sparingly—perhaps as a scratch-resistant cover for costly watches.

Apple already uses the material, according to the Journal, to cover its iPhone camera lense and fingerprint reader. But what could widespread use mean for oft-damaged screens?

In July, reports suggested that GT Advanced Technologies was already ramping up production at its Arizona plant to produce more sapphire glass, which is actually a single crystal of transparent sapphire grown in a lab, sliced, polished, and shaped into a screen.

The best part: it's extremely resilient to scratches. YouTube demonstrators have gladly tried their hand at breaking the material—smashing it with a concrete block, stabbing it with a knife, bending it, hitting it with a hammer, rubbing it with a screw: no scratching.

Of course, that doesn't mean your $500 smartphone is immortal. One tester managed to crack the code, literally, when he ran a 1.6-ton car over the screen, leaving a crack in the cover.

Switching from Corning's Gorilla Glass to sapphire, however, could mean a big risk for Apple, which produces and sells millions of iPhones every quarter. As the Journal pointed out, any slip-up in Cupertino and GT production could mean costly delays, even the possibility of losing longtime Apple users.

Neither Apple nor GT Advanced Technologies immediately responded to PCMag's request for comment.

Even if Cupertino could recoup some money in warranty costs, since folks would presumably have fewer cracked phones, it wouldn't be enough to offset the amount it pays to continue manufacturing sapphire screens, Journal said.

Still, Apple said during a recent earnings call that it has $164.5 billion in cash, so perhaps it can afford the risk.

See Report: Apple Gambles $700M on Sapphire iPhone Display

Rurouni Kenshin 2

chinomoreno — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 16:31:14 +0800

Rurouni Kenshin 2 in cinemas soon!

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chinomoreno — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 12:55:43 +0800

What do device you prefer to use when browsing the internet?

Boxing?

chinomoreno — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 09:37:48 +0800

Since this is a sports channel, let's add a boxing thread.

Who is your favorite boxer?

Mine, would be Mike Tyson because he is a bad*ss!

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Apple Gambles $700M on Sapphire iPhone Display

Rurouni Kenshin 2

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Boxing?