Corning Incorporated introduced its latest breakthrough in glass Technology - Corning Gorilla Glass 6. Built on a decade-long legacy of delivering the toughest cover glass available for consumer mobile devices, Gorilla Glass 6 is Corning’s most durable cover glass to date.
“As consumers become more dependent on their smartphones, the opportunity for potentially damaging drops is also on the rise. Now more than ever, it’s critical the cover glass provides outstanding protection,” said John Bayne, vice president and general manager, Corning Gorilla Glass. “Corning Gorilla Glass 6 improves upon Gorilla Glass 5 by surviving drops from higher heights, but, more importantly, has been engineered to survive multiple drops.”
Durability that Adds Up
A recent worldwide Toluna consumer study revealed that, on average, people drop their phones seven times a year, with more than 50 per cent of the drops occurring at 1 meter or below. To improve cover glass performance, Corning scientists developed and engineered an entirely new material to address the challenge of multiple drops.
On average, in lab tests, Gorilla Glass 6 survived 15 drops from 1 meter onto rough surfaces and is up to two times better than Gorilla Glass 5. Under the same test conditions, competitive glass compositions, such as soda lime and aluminosilicate, did not survive the first drop.
“Gorilla Glass 6 is an entirely new glass composition that can be chemically strengthened to give it significantly higher levels of compression than is possible with Gorilla Glass 5. This enables Gorilla Glass 6 to be more resistant to damage,” said Dr Jaymin Amin, vice president of technology and product development, Corning Gorilla Glass and Corning Specialty
Materials. “Moreover, with breaks during drops being a probabilistic event, the added compression helps increase, on average, the likelihood of survival through multiple drop events.”
Setting the Pace for Modern Device Designs
In addition to larger front displays with more surface area, mobile device manufacturers are also embracing phone designs with glass backs. These designs are providing new features and applications for consumers, such as enhanced wireless charging, larger screen sizes with smaller bezels, and customization through printed glass backs. With its optical clarity, touch sensitivity, scratch resistance, efficient wireless charging and enhanced durability, Gorilla Glass 6 is poised to enable these new design trends.
“In addition to addressing drop height and drop frequency, Gorilla Glass 6 was also developed to meet the requirements of modern designs that use glass for more than 85 per cent of the enclosure. With both its aesthetic and performance advantages, glass is on the right side of the technology curve and will continue to be the material of choice for mobile consumer electronics,” said Scott Forester, division vice president, Marketing and Innovation Products, Corning Gorilla Glass.
Today, Corning Gorilla Glass has been designed into more than 6 billion devices by more than 45 major brands. Corning Gorilla Glass 6 is the just the latest example of Corning’s continued commitment to innovation – using its core understanding of material science and process-development expertise to create life-changing products.
Corning Gorilla Glass 6 is currently being evaluated by multiple customers and expected to reach the market in the next several months.