Corning Gorilla Glass 6 Promises Improved Durability For Mobile Devices

Corning Inc. has unveiled its latest cover glass technology. Gorilla Glass 6 is said to offer improved durability than its predecessor, thereby providing better protection to mobile devices.

Corning introduced this week its all-new Gorilla Glass 6 cover glass technology. According to the company, Gorilla Glass 6 is capable of surviving more one-meter drops than Gorilla Glass 5 all thanks to its entirely new glass composition, Digitimes has learned.

“As consumers become more dependent on their smartphones, the opportunity for potentially damaging drops is also on the rise. Now more than ever, it’s critical the cover glass provides outstanding protection,” Corning Gorilla Glass vice president and general manager John Bayne said.

Bayne noted that Gorilla Glass 6 was not only engineered to survive multiple drops, it is also made to survive drops from higher heights. This is to ensure that devices outfitted with the advanced cover glass technology will be protected from accidental falls.

Corning also designed Gorilla Glass 6 with new and upcoming devices in mind, so the technology is able to smoothly integrate with more modern hardware designs. “In addition to addressing drop height and drop frequency, Gorilla Glass 6 was also developed to meet the requirements of modern designs that use glass for more than 85 percent of the enclosure,” Corning Gorilla Glass division vice president for Marketing and Innovation Products Scott Forester said.

“With both its aesthetic and performance advantages, glass is on the right side of the technology curve and will continue to be the material of choice for multiple consumer electronics,” Forester added.

At the launch event for Gorilla Glass 6, Corning demoed the tests gadgets with the new cover glass technology go through. The tests involved dropping and slapping dummy phones against 120- and 180-grit sandpaper to simulate accidental falls onto rough asphalt, as per Fast Company.

Bayne acknowledged that the lab tests they conducted do not really convey real-world possibilities when phones suffer accidental drops. There are many ways for when a glass panel could break. However, Corning is confident that Gorilla Glass 6 can offer improved durability considering that research data shows smartphone owners drop their handsets seven times a year, and Gorilla Glass 6 can handle 15 drops according to test results.