Apple's premier glass supplier is Corning and Apple's iPhone has been using Gorilla Glass from day one. On page 472 of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, we read: "We produced a glass that had never been made," stated Corning's CEO Wendell Weeks. This is what Steve wanted for the iPhone and so it's highly unlikely that they'd easily switch suppliers. Perhaps in the not too distant future Corning could consider manufacturing a new type of glass that seems to be the next big thing in glass. This next generation of glass is made from sapphire crystal.
At the moment manufactured Sapphire is used as transparent armor on military vehicles but could shift to being used for smartphone cover glass with enough volume – which is why this may be of interest to Apple.
The benefits would mean crack-proof glass even when you drop it and scratch-free if your iPhone is in your pocket with keys or it falls on concrete. The cost is about ten times what Gorilla Glass costs and with increased production it might fall to about six or seven times. Today a Gorilla Glass cover for the iPhone runs about $3, so a leap to $20 could be a cost Apple isn't ready to absorb.
Yet Apple's iDevices are known for their precision designs and best-of-class materials, so I wouldn't write if off too quickly. If it saves on iPhone returns due to smashed glass, the added cost would be negligible.
Secondly, Apple is already familiar with sapphire glass because it's used to cover and protect the camera lens in all of Apple's iDevices.
According to a new report by MIT Technology Review, there are a number of manufacturers in the US that are experimenting at making sapphire sheets thinner than a human hair which is much thinner than today's Gorilla Glass which would save on iPhone weight which Apple is obsessed about and that would translate in huge quantity shipments to lower shipping costs by weight. A little here a little there and it begins to make sense for Apple to start experimenting with it and convincing their partner Corning to start their engines so to speak as competitors are now beginning to talk about manufacturing sapphire glass for only about $6 to $9 per smartphone cover versus $20 to $30 that it sells for today.
Several other companies with proprietary technologies are also lowering the cost of sapphire, including Rubicon Technologies in the United States, Monocrystal in Russia, and Sapphire Technology in South Korea.
This year we could see the iPhone adopt Corning's next generation Gorilla Glass that is about twice as resistant to scratches. Whether Apple can convince Corning to develop a sapphire glass cover for future iDevices is unknown at this time. But the switch to sapphire crystal glass is likely something we'll see in the coming years – unless Corning can reinvent their Gorilla Glass to compete with Sapphire Crystal. Only time will tell how this all plays out.
