The application of sapphire in smartphone cover glass represents a blue‑ocean opportunity for the industry’s future.

Category: Industry News

Release date: 2022-10-30

Summary: Phone cover panels (glass screens) are prone to shattering, which has long been one of the major pain points of smartphones. Compared with the Gorilla Glass used predominantly in Apple phones, sapphire boasts five key advantages:

Phone cover plates (glass screens) are prone to breaking upon impact, which has long been one of the major pain points of smartphones. In comparison… Apple The main cover glass used in smartphones is Gorilla Glass, while sapphire boasts five major advantages:

1. Sapphire ranks second only to diamond in hardness and is three times tougher than Gorilla Glass, making sapphire cover glass more durable and scratch‑resistant—so you don’t need a screen protector and can rest assured against scratches and drops.

2. The sapphire cover glass (200 microns) can be half the thickness of a Gorilla Glass cover (400 microns), which not only reduces the overall device thickness but also enhances touch‑screen sensitivity as the cover becomes thinner.

3. Sapphire has a higher refractive index, which can enhance screen transmittance and boost the brightness of the backlight LEDs. This not only improves visibility in bright light but also enables operation under lower‑brightness conditions, thereby extending battery life.

4. Sapphire has a dielectric constant 1.3 times that of Gorilla Glass, resulting in higher touch-screen sensitivity and an improved user experience.

5. Sapphire’s flexural strength and fracture toughness are 15 times and 3 times those of Gorilla Glass, respectively, making the screen much less prone to shattering.

Given all its advantages, why hasn’t sapphire cover glass been widely adopted for smartphone back panels? The answer lies in its high cost.

Sapphire has a high melting point and a long growth cycle, and its crystal‑growth process consumes enormous amounts of energy—about 100 times more than that required to produce Gorilla Glass. Consequently, the cost of a sapphire cover glass is roughly ten times that of a Gorilla Glass cover glass.

Apple The news that sapphire is being used for iPhone screens has turned sapphire into a benchmark in the eyes of smartphone manufacturers: to project a premium, high‑end image, a device simply must feature sapphire. At present, sapphire is primarily employed for home‑button covers, camera lens covers, and fingerprint‑sensor covers, with only a small number of high‑priced models incorporating sapphire‑glass displays.

In recent years, driven by the rapid growth in demand within the sapphire substrate industry, existing players have swiftly expanded their production capacity. Meanwhile, companies from outside the sector or along its upstream and downstream value chain, enticed by favorable market prospects and supported by industrial policies, have accelerated their entry into sapphire manufacturing and processing through technology and equipment acquisitions. As a result, sapphire material prices are expected to decline rapidly, and its penetration rate in the smartphone cover‑glass segment will continue to rise.

 

Keywords: The application of sapphire in smartphone cover glass represents a blue‑ocean opportunity for the industry’s future.

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