For a long time, everyone from millennials to seniors have struggled to keep their electronic devices safe and protected. In recent years, touch screens and tablets have taken control of the technology market and have increasingly larger screens; often times, these large screens are more susceptible to cracking and shattering. Beyond the touchscreen, glass is being used to cover more and more of the surface of electronic devices. For those of us who are a bit clumsier, there is always a need and desire to make sure that our devices and their screens are not getting cracked, starched, or ruined. Luckily, Gorilla Glass 6 is here to save the day.
Corning, the company who created and currently manufactures Gorilla Glass, unveiled its new and improved encasing material this July. The new product is known as Gorilla Glass 6. It is designed to be more durable than any previously released Corning products and particularly more durable than Gorilla Glass 5, introduced about two years ago. Gorilla Glass itself is used in most smartphones and tablets on the market today.
The greatest advantage that Gorilla Glass 6 offers is a better ability to withstand drops. The new product boasts an ability to survive higher heights and more drops per device. In fact, lab tests have demonstrated that Gorilla Glass 6 survived an average of fifteen drops at a height of one meter. Gorilla Glass 5 survived half as many drops from the same height. Even more so, other competing glass composed covers did not survive a single drop from the one-meter height.
In the past, most glass cases were only designed with screen protection in mind. Nowadays, phone cases are embracing new features such as wireless charging and predominantly glass backs. In 2010, Apple released its first iPhone 4 with glass on both the front and back of the phone, more than doubling the surface area that needed to be protected. Now, eight years later, glass has evolved to cover even more of the devices than it ever has before. The large surface area of glass, in turn, makes devices more vulnerable to shattering. Many manufacturers have tried to combat this issue by combining different generations of Gorilla Glass and using the different generations on each side of the phone. The manufacturers generally do this for one of two reasons. First, they may do it for cost reduction as they often do not need the more expensive generation of the case to protect the back side of the device. Second, they may use different cases to play up the generational strengths of each case as some cases manage drops better while others have a higher resistance to scratches.
With the release of the new Gorilla Glass 6, it will be interesting to see if manufacturers continue the combining trend or if Gorilla Glass 6 will become the one and only generation used. As of now, Corning is making the glass available to manufacturers and it will likely be featured in accessories such as iPads and iPhones within the next few months.
