Following the use of sapphire to make covers for the home button and camera of the iPhone 5, China- and South Korea-based smartphone vendors are considering the adoption of sapphire, and therefore the application in smartphones is likely to take off in 2015, according to Taiwan-based sapphire makers.
LG Electronics has also adopted sapphire for covers of smartphone cameras and China-based smartphone vendors ZTE, Huawei Device and Xiaomi Technology as well as Samsung Electronics are very likely to follow suit, the sources said.
Covers of cameras are the main application of sapphire in smartphones currently, Taiwan-based sapphire maker Tera Xtal Technology indicated. Tera Xtal currently has monthly production capacity of 200,000mm of sapphire ingots, 1.0 million sapphire wafers and 100,000 PSS (patterned sapphire substrates), the company noted.
