What is Gorilla Glass®?
Gorilla Glass® is a trademarked brand name of a very durable type of glass created by the Corning company. If you or someone you know owns a smartphone, you have probably heard of Gorilla Glass, since it's used in almost every smartphone as part of the display that makes up the touchscreen.
Gorilla Glass is very popular for almost any device that uses a touchscreen, and it's used not only in smartphones but also in a variety of other electronic devices such as computers and TV sets for the top surface of the display.
However, there is so much more to it than that that makes this specific type of glass considerably different than other types of glass.
Gorilla Glass is introduced
Gorilla Glass was introduced to the world in June 2007 when Apple announced the first iPhone. As a device, the iPhone changed everything about mobile phones, and the use of Gorilla Glass is one of the technologies that made the introduction of this revolutionary (at the time) portable device possible.
Characteristics of Gorilla Glass
Gorilla Glass has special characteristics as a material that makes it an essential part of smartphones and other devices using a touchscreen. It is not only durable but very thin and extremely scratch-resistant. These characteristics make it ideal for use on a portable device like a smartphone that's in use every day. There's one other property of Gorilla Glass® that makes it ideal for a touchscreen device, which is the ability to apply layers of other materials to the Gorilla Glass®.
You might not realize it, but the touchscreen of your smartphone (or any touchscreen device) is made out of several layers of materials. In addition to the glass layer of the screen, there's a layer for the Liquid Crystals that display the visual images, and also a layer of material that can sense when your finger makes contact with the screen. This explanation is a bit simplified, and there are usually several more layers of materials, but that's another topic.
The important thing to know about Gorilla Glass is that is doesn't affect how these other layers function and forms a lightweight solid base material so the other layers can be applied in very thin coatings during the manufacturing of the touchscreen. This property makes it possible to manufacture reliable, lightweight, and scratch-resistant touchscreens, which are an essential part of our smartphone, tablet, and touchscreen devices.
History of Gorilla Glass
To date, there have been three generations of Gorilla Glass. As mentioned earlier, the first generation was introduced with the iPhone announcement in 2007. Gorilla Glass 2 became available in 2012. It was 20 percent thinner than the original Gorilla Glass with better scratch-resistance. Gorilla Glass 3 was released in 2013. The 3rd generation of Gorilla Glass improved scratch resistance. However, this doesn't mean that the glass is scratch proof. Corning states in their official product documentation that once a scratch does occur, the scratch is less likely to be visible since Gorilla Glass 3 has reduced scratch visibility. Future generations continue to improve scratch resistance.
Cracked Screens
While Gorilla Glass is a pretty durable material, like all glass, it can crack. You may have had a cracked screen on one of your devices, and if so, the only repair possible is to replace the screen and the glass layer, and potentially the display layer as well.
Most manufacturers of smartphones and tablets conduct a “drop test” that drops the device from a certain height to see if the device works and the screen doesn't crack. And in fact, dropping a device is the most likely way to crack the screen. The case used in the manufacturing helps protect the device and the screen, and you no doubt have seen, or even own, an after-market case that provides additional drop protection.
Apple, Staples, and other repair centers offer a repair service for replacing a cracked screen, but I always recommend that you check the cost of repair against the cost of replacing the device since screen repairs can cost over $200 sometimes. And it's important to know that even with a cracked screen, you could have trade-in value for a smartphone that's otherwise in good working order.
Screen Protectors
Screen protectors were once more common on the earlier generations of Gorilla Glass, which did tend to show scratches and were less durable. Even the 2nd generation was a major improvement over the first and reduced the need for an after-market screen protector.
If you use your smartphone or tablet in a hostile environment with a lot of dust or sand, like the beach, a baggie with a zipper-type top makes an excellent inexpensive solution. It may not look elegant, but it works and is dust, sand, moisture-proof and inexpensive.
If you need a durable case that can help your smartphone or tablet survive rough handling, there's an accessory for that. Lifeproof, Otterbox, Ballistic, Speck, and Incipio, who are some of the largest makers of cases, all make models that are waterproof, snow-proof, dirt-proof, shock-proof and have built-in screen protectors.
What goes into Gorilla Glass?
In general, you cannot tell the difference between Gorilla Glass and other types of glass when you look at them. Most forms of commercial glass are simply made using ingredients of sand or silicon dioxide, limestone, and sodium carbonate which are then melted together at a high temperature. Corning utilizes these substances but combines them with additional chemicals before melting them down into a solid glass material called aluminosilicate. This type of glass is made up of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. Sodium ions are added to complete the glass-making process.
Before making the aluminosilicate into Gorilla Glass, Corning performs a process called "ion exchange." The glass is dipped into a vat of potassium ions and then bathed at around 752 degrees Fahrenheit. This dipping creates a highly durable protective layer on top of the glass that makes it perfect for use on smartphones, computers, tablets, and TVs.
What's else is coming?
Smartphone and tablet screens will continue to improve with each generation of screen material, and there may be other materials in the future, but Gorilla Glass screens are the industry-standard for now.