Corning’s newest Gorilla Glass can now survive a 1-meter drop on concrete

When Samsung proclaims its Galaxy S23 lineup in February, they could have the hardest screens on a smartphone but — as a result of Corning’s just-announced Gorilla Glass Victus 2 can take an even bigger beating than ever. For the primary time, Corning is promoting that your telephone ought to have the ability to survive a 1-meter (waist-high) drop on concrete particularly, one of the notoriously troublesome surfaces to guard in opposition to.

Corning wouldn’t say if there was a particular breakthrough in supplies science that now lets telephones survive drops on concrete — reasonably, it feels like a selection. Gorilla Glass division VP Scott Forester tells me the corporate actively determined to guard in opposition to concrete with this era of glass, adjusting the composition and “stress profiles” till engineers discovered one thing they have been happy with.

Why concrete, particularly? It’s what phonemakers have been asking for. “Over 30 percent of the drops they were having were on concrete, more than any other surface,” says Forester.

It wasn’t at all times that method. Even a pair years again, “it was about survival on smooth surfaces,” Forester says. But as smartphone glass obtained stronger, individuals wouldn’t wind up cracking their telephones till they dropped them on rougher pavement. “What we learned over time is about 75 percent of the drop failures come on rough surfaces, asphalt or rough granite or concrete for that matter,” he provides.

Now, concrete is the largest remaining ache level that Corning can attempt to cross off the record.

The weight and dimension of a telephone is one other factor that’s modified through the years. They’re 15 % heavier and 10 % bigger than they have been 4 years in the past, in response to Corning estimates. The firm says its exams account for these modifications: to simulate the impression of a telephone on concrete, it now repeatedly drops a 200 gram (7oz) puck face-down onto a bit of 80-grit sandpaper atop a tough floor. 200g is roughly the identical weight as a mid-size Samsung S22 Plus, although there are actually heavier telephones in the marketplace.

Speaking of Samsung, it hasn’t been confirmed fairly but that the Korean electronics big shall be utilizing the brand new glass. Corning introduced that Samsung could be its first consumer for Gorilla Glass Victus in 2020, whereas Apple opted to companion with Corning by itself unique “Ceramic Shield” glass as an alternative.

But in 2020, Corning instructed me that the glass would first seem on a flagship telephone “in the next few months,” and that’s the very same wording that Forester used as nicely. Victus 2 shall be coming to “some very large OEMs in the next few months, primarily on their flagship phones,” and Samsung is the largest producer anticipated to launch flagship telephones in that window. I suppose we’ll see, although — perhaps Samsung will announce one other new unique glass for itself.