New Ultra-Durable Glass Poised to Make iPhone Tougher Than Ever

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Corning on Wednesday officially took the wraps off its latest Gorilla Glass 6 product, which could soon end up in Apple’s iPhone lineup.

The manufacturer said in a press release that Gorilla Glass 6 is its more durable glass product to date and sports “unprecedented protection against multiple drops,” as well as better protection against higher drops.

The new version of Gorilla Glass uses a new material that’s been specifically engineered to withstand more than one drop. Corning notes that the average smartphone user drops their device about seven times a year — due to that, creating multiple drop-resistant products was a priority.

“Gorilla Glass 6 is an entirely new glass composition that can be chemically strengthened to give it significantly higher levels of compression … This enables Gorilla Glass 6 to be more resistant to damage,” said Dr. Jaymin Amin, VP of technology and product development at Corning.

Smartphones equipped with Gorilla Glass 6 were able to withstand about 15 drops from one meter (3 feet) onto “rough surfaces.” That’s about twice as durable as the previous generation of Corning’s glass.

Gorilla Glass 6 was also tailor-made for all-glass smartphones and smartphones with increasingly large display areas. That’s a trend we’ve seen across the smartphone industry, so it’s smart of Corning to keep up.

“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,” Corning’s Scott Forester said.

The firm notes that Gorilla Glass 6 is being “evaluated by multiple customers.” It’s expected to hit the market within the next few months.

Corning has long been a primary Apple supplier — and was even aware $200 million as the first recipient of Apple’s Advanced Manufacturing Fund.

Gorilla Glass is used across Apple’s device lineup, and it’s incredibly likely that it will end up being used in a future iPhone. Based on the timeline and the previous relationship with Apple, it’s even possible that Gorilla Glass 6 will be the chief glass material used in this year’s stable of iPhones.

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