Phone producers are abandoning Gorilla Glass, however what does it give?

Corning Gorilla Cup It has been the gold commonplace for glass protecting options within the area of smartphones for years, which dates again to the unique iPhone. Actually, Gorilla Glass turned a form of model in area, with producers that use it as a high quality seal.

Nonetheless, I’ve seen that one thing very fascinating occurs in recent times. Whereas High Android Phone From Google and Samsung they nonetheless use corning safety, the flagships of honor rivals, Huawei and Xiaomi have moved away from Gorilla Glass in favor of inside options. So what provides and the way a lot does this matter?

My first thought when noticing this development is that smartphone manufacturers wish to avoid wasting {dollars} with out gaining nice sturdiness commitments. In spite of everything, Corning is the very best canine within the protecting glass area, and has a premium for its latest options. Actually, many Finances telephones Use older and extra cheaper gorilla glass variants or different third -party options resembling Asahi’s dragontrail glass.

Nonetheless, Honor mentioned Android authority that its personal inside safety arose as a result of want:

In 2021, the business lacked an sufficient glass ceramic resolution for sensible display telephones, pressured the glory to spend money on ceramic glass expertise analysis. First era expertise was utilized to Magic 3 Professional Plus honor in 2021, and in 2024, the Magic 6 honor offered subsequent era glass-glass expertise of honor, honor Nanocrystal Protect.

In different phrases, Honor was open to utilizing Gorilla Glass, however the resolution I wished merely didn’t exist. Actually, the corporate informed me that I used to be not leaving Gorilla Glass or different third -party options:

For the glory quantity and the X collection, Corning Gorilla Glass or different third -party options continues. As a result of considerably larger price of glass ceramics in comparison with conventional strengthened glass resembling Gorilla Glass, Honor solely adopts its personal model options in its flagship of magic to enhance the sturdiness of the display and meet the sunshine and skinny necessities of the folding phone collection.

I feel it’s fascinating that honor says that ceramic glass options resembling their very own defend of Nanocrystals have a “considerably larger price” in comparison with typical gorilla glass options (that’s, older), that contradict my expectation of cheaper prices. Nonetheless, the corporate didn’t make clear whether or not its personal resolution is cheaper than the newest innovations of Ceramic Corning as Gorilla Armor 2.

In the meantime, Xiaomi makes use of its Protect Glass and Protect Glass 2.0 options on latest flagship telephones such because the Xiaomi 15 Extremely. The corporate informed me that it adopted inside protecting glass as a result of it wished to supply “the very best consumer expertise by fastidiously deciding on supplies that optimize each sturdiness and efficiency.”

Xiaomi additionally clarified that he was not dropping Glass Glass fully. The agency nonetheless makes use of corning glass on its most reasonably priced telephones resembling Redmi Notice 14 Professional Plus. He additionally acknowledged that the Xiaomi 15 extremely makes use of Gorilla Glass 7i for the digicam lens.

Anyway, I feel that the preliminary funding price in customized protecting glass could be very excessive for OEM. Nor have I seen any system aside from Samsung with Gorilla Armor or Armor 2, suggesting that it’s unique to Galaxies Telephones. Subsequently, phone marks that need ceramic safety or microcrystallal glass could don’t have any alternative however to create them them.

What does corning of this development? The corporate did not have a lot to say after I requested them:

We proceed innovating and offering troublesome protection supplies to fulfill the worldwide wants of customers. As a follow, we don’t touch upon the product plans of our prospects or the gives of our rivals. Questions associated to materials choices and product plans have to be shared immediately with the OEM.

That’s actually the million greenback query, proper? A development that I’ve seen is that smartphone producers will usually examine their inside glass with tempered glass as a substitute of gorilla glass. This isn’t a good comparability since tempered glass is actually used solely on low -end telephones at the moment. It is like evaluating a Ferrari with an Ford Mannequin T.

Fortuitously, Honor gave me an extra imaginative and prescient of the sturdiness of his nanocrystal defend:

In contrast to ceramic glass expertise, the energy of Gorilla Corning’s glass, together with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and Dragontrail glass is derived from the chemical temperate, which belong to conventional chemically strengthened glass. Nonetheless, glass ceramics have the power to hinder the unfold of cracks by means of nanocrystals, leading to a higher fall resistance.

Honor additionally cited a 1.5 -meter inside fall check on a floor that resembles a troublesome path. He mentioned that the failure fee of “typical temperate glass” with out ceramic crystals was ten instances that of the nanocrystal defend. That also doesn’t give us a particular comparability with the latest variants of Gorilla Glass. Nonetheless, the corporate believes that its resolution is best within the fall resistance than earlier corning efforts with out ceramics resembling Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

The autumn resistance is only a issue, however what about scratches? Properly, Honor says that his defend of Nanocrystals and all typical temperate glass (together with Gorilla Glass Victus 2) have a Mohs hardness classification between 5 and 6. Which means “there aren’t any important variations in scratch resistance” between these options.

The corporate didn’t point out how its glass charges in opposition to Gorilla Armor. For what’s value, youtuber Jerryrigeverything He found that the gorilla armor within the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely exhibited small scratches at degree seven on the Mohs hardness scale, with deeper grooves at degree eight. This implies that the gorilla armor has improved scratch resistance on the glory resolution and former corning merchandise, which scratched themselves at degree six and exhibited deeper grooves at degree seven. The youtuber He repeated this check With the Galaxy S25 Extremely and its Gorilla Armor 2, however noticed small scratches at degree six and the deepest cuts at degree seven. This implies that the unique gorilla armor has higher scratch resistance than OEM options and gorilla 2 armor, however this isn’t conclusive.

Xiaomi is one other model that claims that its protecting glass has “larger resistance to scratches and drops” on commonplace tempered glass:

Whereas we’ve in contrast it with commonplace tempered glass to spotlight its enhancements, we’re constantly evaluating totally different supplies to ensure optimum efficiency. Our method is to pick essentially the most applicable options based mostly on actual world efficiency, equilibrium power, readability and consumer expertise.

I really feel that the corporate managed to say loads right here with out saying a lot. Nonetheless, a YouTube video He confirmed somebody who used the Xiaomi 14 PRO, which presents the model’s first era defend glass, resembling nail and nuts hammer. The system appears to have emerged unhurt. Xiaomi additionally identified that the primary -generation defend glass of Xiaomi 14 Extremely had a greater decline resistance than the Xiaomi 13 extremely. The final system used Gorilla Glass Vicus.

In the meantime, Xiaomi says The Xiaomi 15 Extremely’s Protect Glass 2.0 gives a 25% fall resistance on the tough roads than the Xiaomi 14 extremely glass. The true query is how the autumn resistance of Protect Glass 2.0 with Corning Gorilla Armor and Armor 2 is in contrast, however the firm has not addressed this.

From what’s value, Xiaomi informed me that his items of defend glass and defend glass 2.0 have been “a kind of microcrystalline glass, as a substitute of conventional ceramic glass.” He added {that a} key good thing about this materials is that it’s extra scratch resistant than regular glass. Nonetheless, the corporate didn’t examine with Gorilla Glass on this regard.

I’ve repeatedly requested Huawei representatives particulars about their Kunlun glass expertise, however they I’ve not returned to me. In any case, the agency states that the Kunlun Glass glass seen in final 12 months Pura 70 extremely It gives a 300% higher scratch resistance and a 100% higher drop resistance than first era Kunlun glass. Sadly, that doesn’t give us a comparability with Gorilla Glass in any respect. Nonetheless, it’s mentioned that tumbler makes use of microcristals to enhance sturdiness.

Apple, Google and Samsung nonetheless use corning options, however ought to a tool with customized protecting glass? Properly, an method to sturdiness appears to be a relentless in these inside options, not less than in comparison with the oldest gorilla glass variants. So, even when we can not examine with the final options of Gorilla Glass, they need to nonetheless provide good safety in opposition to drops and scratches. As well as, the obvious lack of non -Samsung telephones with gorilla armor additionally means that different OEM shouldn’t have entry to the final and presumably higher corning expertise.

The dignity assertion that ceramic glass safety is costlier than typical protecting glass exhibits that that is clearly not a price of price discount, one other good signal. As such, I hope these OEM proceed to make use of older gorilla glass variants on their most cost-effective telephones to maintain prices. Google and Samsung use older Gorilla Gorls on their reasonably priced telephones, inserting them on the equal foot of individuals resembling Honor and Xiaomi in the case of the sturdiness of the display.

Nonetheless, Corning has moved shortly to distinguish its merchandise in recent times, with Gorilla Armor and Armor 2 that provide non -slip coatings on Samsung’s extremely telephones. This characteristic is lacking in OEM options. Even when inside glass options are similar to the most recent Corning merchandise by way of safety, you must count on a extra visually nice expertise on gorilla armor telephones.