Corning launched Gorilla Glass 5 in a livestream today. It said it builds on the strengths of the current Gorilla Glass 4, creating a dependable sheet of smooth and clear cover glass that customers can rely on if they drop, scratch or scrape their phone.
Gorilla Glass is used as the top sheet of glass on over 1,800 smartphone models from 40 major brands. In total, it can be found on over 4.5 billion devices worldwide. Most consumers will have owned or encountered a phone using Gorilla Glass, even if they weren’t aware of it.
Gorilla Glass is used by phone manufacturers as the layer of the display you directly interact with when using a device. This cover glass is the most vulnerable to everyday damage, likely to suffer scratches or more serious defects if dropped from any significant height. Gorilla Glass 5 includes unique technology to survive face-down drops, avoiding cracks and shatters where other glass would fall down.
Corning cited a recent global survey that found over 85 percent of smartphone owners drop their phone at least once per year. Over 60 percent of owners have dropped their devices from above waist height, where significant damage is likely to be caused to the display. With top glass replacements costly and time consuming for users, Corning has focused the improvements in Gorilla Glass 5 onto drop resistance.
According to Corning, Gorilla Glass 5 is able to survive drops onto rough surfaces up to four times better than competitor products. In lab tests, it escaped without damage up to 80 percent of the time when dropped face-down from a height of 1.6 metres onto a rough surface.
“With each successive generation of Corning Gorilla Glass, we have taken cover glass technology to new levels,” said John Bayne, vice president and general manager of Corning Gorilla Glass. “Gorilla Glass 5 is no exception, extending Corning’s advantage in drop performance over competitive glasses. With many real-world drops occurring from between waist and shoulder height, we knew improving drop performance would be an important and necessary advancement.”
A strong sheet of cover glass is important as it can increase the appeal of a device. Gorilla Glass offers more than pure drop protection. It also has a low resistance to swipes and taps, creating a smooth feel to the glass, and delivers a high level of optical clarity, preventing aberrations blemishing the image created by the display beneath it.
Gorilla Glass 5 is now available to smartphone manufacturers to include in their future devices. The first handsets featuring the new glass are expected to be made available later this year. Corning said “leading global brands” are already preparing to unveil phones that use Gorilla Glass 5, creating a new class of drop-resistant devices.
