iPhone 5 Likely to Feature Gorilla Glass 2
Apple hinted in a U.S. jobs report that some of its famed devices, including the iPhone 5, iPad 3 and MacBook line will be using Corning's Gorilla Glass 2 as material for their displays.
"Corning employees in Kentucky and New York who create the majority of the glass for iPhone," read the report.
This one quote alone shows that Apple could be employing Corning to create more durable displays on devices such as the iPhone, whose screen normally shatters when dropped.
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Corning recently stated in a New York Times report that it has shifted most of its glass manufacturing to China.
"Our customers are in Taiwan, Korea, Japan and China," said James B. Flaws, Corning's vice chairman and chief financial officer. "We could make the glass here, and the ship it by boat, but that takes 35 days. Or, we could ship it by air, but that's 10 times as expensive. So we build our glass factories next door to assembly factories, and those are overseas."
These two reports seem to contradict each other and Apple's relationship with the company has always remained a mystery. Steve Jobs did visit the company's headquarters in 2006 and told its CEO Wendell Weeks not to be afraid to make the glass. But ironically, Corning is not included on Apple's supplier list.
Even though this relationship between Corning and Apple is still somewhat mysterious to this day, it can be concluded by Apple's recent statement that it is using Gorilla Glass regardless of where it is made.
Corning revealed the new material at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The company claims that it is 20 percent stronger, lighter and thinner than the current Gorilla Glass. Apple would benefit greatly by using the material.
The iPhone 5 is rumored to debut sometime around the summer.
