Taiwan-based sapphire wafer makers, viewing that LED demand is unlikely to grow to, have started looking to have sapphire wafers adopted as protection covers for iPhone 5 cameras.
Several smartphone vendors including Taiwan-based HTC and China-based Huawei Device have planned to adopt sapphire wafers as protection covers of smartphone cameras in place of glass covers, the sources indicated. Some Taiwan-based sapphire wafer makers, such as Tera Xtal Technology and Crystalwise Technology, have offered sample products for this application, the sources noted.
Prices for a 2-inch sapphire wafer have dropped to US$7-8 and for a 2- and 4-inch PSS (patterned sapphire substrate) to US$13-14 and about US$30 respectively, the sources indicated. Square-shaped sapphire wafers can be directly sliced from sapphire ingots for use as protection covers of smartphone cameras and prices per wafer at large shipments can be decreased to US$10-15, the sources pointed out.
However, some Taiwan-based maker are conservative about demand for sapphire wafers used in smartphones because prices for glass covers are much lower at US$1 per inch and global production capacity is enough and steady, the sources indicated. These makers hold the opinion that it is difficult for large-scale adoption of sapphire wafers for smartphones for the time being but the material may be adopted for a few smartphone models to test the market.
