If you own an electronic device from Samsung, LG, HTC, Motorola, and Microsoft, chances are you are familiar with Gorilla Glass because it protects smartphones and tablets from most of the major electronics maker in the industry.
Each version of Gorilla Glass is stronger than the last so Corning decided to focus on the one thing Gorilla Glass 3 seemed to have trouble with for the 4th version: drops.
Phones are dropped on a daily basis and screens are destroyed as a result. Gorilla Glass 4 sets out to minimize this problem as much as scientifically possible.
Corning’s scientists created new drop tests using 180-grit sandpaper to simulate rough surfaces and dropped Gorilla Glass 4 and other competitive glasses from a height of one meter (around 3.3 feet).
Gorilla Glass 4 survived sharp drop impacts “up to” 80 percent of the time and showed “up to” two times improvement over Gorilla Glass 3.
So, obviously, Gorilla Glass 4 is not completely impervious but at the end of the day it is still glass and those are some great results.
In regards to the potential destruction of your smartphone after being dropped with Gorilla Glass 4, Cliff Hund, president of Corning East Asia, said, “I won’t say we’ve wiped it out, but we’ve taken a real large chunk out of it.”
Corning still has its work cut out for the company because an 80 percent survival rate isn’t quite indestructible yet, but Gorilla Glass 4 is making huge strides.
Corning expects consumer devices to feature Gorilla Glass 4 within the quarter, meaning your electronic devices will be stronger than ever very soon.
