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Sapphire 4.7″ iPhone 6 display put through its paces with knife and keys in new scratch test video

Screen Shot 2014-07-07 at 6.51.55 PM

Earlier today we got a quick look at a flexible iPhone 6 display, but a new video from YouTuber Marques Brownlee (embedded below) takes the supposed next-gen screen through a more complete durability test. In the video, Brownlee not only bends the flexible sapphire panel, but takes a set of keys and even a knife to it in an attempt to leave a scratch.

The beginning of video features a look at the sapphire crystal that will reportedly make up the next-generation iPhone’s display. As demonstrated in the video, the glass is extremely clear (which is why Apple currently uses it in the iPhone’s camera lens and the Touch ID sensor on the 5s). After a quick examination of the crystal-clear glass, Brownlee really put it to the test…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R0_FJ4r73s&feature=youtu.be]

In the second half of the video, Brownlee puts the iPhone display through a quick scratch test using a pocket knife and a set of keys. When he’s unable to leave so much as a tiny scratch on the panel’s surface, he moves on to a bend test with similar results, as you can see in the video above.

Though there’s still much testing to be done, the sapphire crystal display held up very well. By the end of the test, Brownlee concluded that he would be unable to actually leave a mark on the panel without mechanical assistance.

At the end of last month, 9to5Mac exclusively uncovered comparison photos of both the black and white versions of the soon-to-be-announced iPhone 6 display. It’s also been rumored that the upcoming device will not feature as much additional battery life as many users were hoping for due to its thinner design.

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Comments

  1. Taste_of_Apple - 10 years ago

    Reblogged this on Taste of Apple and commented:
    The iPhone has always held up fairly against scratching…the true test of it’s durability will be how well it does when dropped. I’m hoping it isn’t as prone to shattering.

  2. sardonick - 10 years ago

    Looked like it took scratches to me. 3:38 and beyond when the light hits the screen you can see what looks like scratches to me. I hate these tests.

    • Lucian Mjob - 10 years ago

      Honestly couldn’t see anything. Where on the screen did you see the scratch (e.g.top left/bottom center)?

    • tincan2012 - 10 years ago

      “Looked like it took scratches to me. 3:38 and beyond when the light hits the screen you can see what looks like scratches to me”

      Those were just reflections off his Samsung phone.

    • RP - 10 years ago

      That was your retina. Glaucoma maybe.

      • sardonick - 10 years ago

        Keep perpetuating the stereotype of fanboys. Good job.

    • spiralynth - 10 years ago

      @sardonick — that scratch is actually on the Android device you’re using to watch the video.

      • sardonick - 10 years ago

        Wow. What a witty response. Typical of this demographic. Look again and actually open your eyes.

      • spiralynth - 10 years ago

        Wow. What a delusionoid.

        There is no scratch. Deal with it.

    • rob nienburg (@robogobo) - 10 years ago

      Maybe, but it could be dust. There’s definitely some dust on there.

      • sardonick - 10 years ago

        Yup. That’s why I said “looked like…..to me”. Easy to cause a stir here.

    • borntofeel - 10 years ago

      Where exactly on the screen? I see absolutely nothing.

    • John Paul Lusk - 10 years ago

      I just put it up to the highest YT resolution (says 4k) on my 2012 iMac and went full screen. I can see what you are referring to but it is definitely fibres, possibly from the carpet but it isn’t scratches

    • o0smoothies0o - 10 years ago

      If anything it’s debris from the knife/keys which weren’t rubbed off. Sapphire will scratch and damage them and the only thing left will be debris on the screen.

    • Kevin A (@kevinsky) - 10 years ago

      I see the marks you’re talking about at 3:38. I can’t see them clearly enough to determine if they’re scratches or dust.
      But for what it’s worth, Marques Brownlee is not an Apple partisan. I believe he uses an HTC as his main phone. He tests and reviews all kinds of tech including iPhones and Android phones and others. I’ve never seen him give an unfair review and I’ve never seen him shy away from pointing out a bad point on a product he otherwise liked. If there was a scratch and he’d noticed it, I believe he’d mention it.
      And if there was a scratch, I’d be okay with it, because he took a pretty good go at it with that knife!

      • Kevin A (@kevinsky) - 10 years ago

        For those who can’t see the scratches, they’re almost all over his middle finger between 3:38-3:40

      • o0smoothies0o - 10 years ago

        If there are scratches then it isn’t sapphire, but I see no scratches.

  3. Victor O - 10 years ago

    Bloggers need to quit milking Sonny Dickson’s stolen parts for clicks. Same with all the bad case mockups or renderings. Just let the damn thing be announced.

    • Clearly you know nothing about bloggers. They make a living like this, of every single leak or rumor they can get

      • Victor O - 10 years ago

        I’m aware. No one should expect to make a living that way though. People aren’t being informed of anything substantial. This isn’t reporting. This is people being leeches.

  4. amazieadvicy - 10 years ago

    I swear, every iphone is getting thinner and thinner, useful info though.

  5. I’m thoroughly impressed by this. I don’t care for others who wish to slam my views, but that looks fantastic!

    • Lucian Mjob - 10 years ago

      Beyond my expectations. I expected it to break. If he really was trying to break it, I’m impressed.

    •  DrM47145 (@DrM47145) - 10 years ago

      I don’t get it.
      What’s the point in making the iPhone’s screen so resistant when its back is aluminium? You lay your iPhone on its back on a table and it will get scratched. The screen is always upwards and safe from scratches. And if your screen gets scratched or broken, it is easier and cheaper to change its screen than what it is to change its flimsy aluminium unibody.

  6. bobbell69 - 10 years ago

    Reblogged this on BobLovesTech and commented:
    Looks pretty strong

  7. Marcus R. Moore - 10 years ago

    Besides the durability, which is great, the most interesting part of this for me was the side by side which showed the bezels at 30 which showed the bezels significantly thinner than in the mockups.

    • Tim Jr. - 10 years ago

      Your right. I had to do a retake.. the bezels are a lot thinner than the mockups.. The mockups are based partly off the 5s for the front screen.. sooooo maybe it will be thinner on the bezel..

    • RP - 10 years ago

      The first thing I noticed too. Thank god!

    • Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

      I think they look the same size. The bevelled edge gives the illusion they are thinner perhaps.

      • o0smoothies0o - 10 years ago

        No, the bezels are all thinner. The bevel actually wouldn’t because you are seeing the same amount of the bezel looking straight down, I think. It’s just like if you shaved off a tiny amount of the glass all around the edges so it slopes downward all the way around it, but from above you see the same amount of bezel. If it literally curved then you would see less, but it just slopes.

      • Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

        They still look substantially the same to me. We will find out when it ships. They seem to disappear due to refraction when the beveled edge is looked through at an angle, so I’m going to assume for now that they are the same until it’s proven otherwise.

        For the record I would love it if they *were* smaller. The iPads in particular have huge bezels that could be reduced by at least 50% IMO.

  8. Marco Wenk (@wenkmarco) - 10 years ago

    did you see how the contrast got better when he hold in front of the camera?

  9. seyss (@seyss) - 10 years ago

    you people are missing the point. the vast majority of catastrophic damages are not scratches.. are breaking. I wanted to see this black guy hammer it to see what happens

  10. Kenneth Law - 10 years ago

    OMG! Sapphire kicks butt!

  11. Cun Con - 10 years ago

    Sides, top and bottom bezels are thinner…me liking. Look at the gap from touch ID hole to the bottom of the screen and compare it with the 5s.

  12. RP - 10 years ago

    Was I the only one cringing biting my lip when he had the screen under his shoe bending it up? I though for sure it was going to snap. Looking forward to seeing more of these type of videos.

    Looks like Apple has a great selling point with the screen.

  13. drgreenberg - 10 years ago

    The keys and knife are all metal, known to be softer than sapphire. I’d like to see something harder and also more difficult to control contact with, such as sand.

  14. Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

    Sand. The easiest way to tell if it’s sapphire is by using sand. Sand is quartz and will scratch any glass including gorilla glass but sapphire should be immune to it.

  15. borntofeel - 10 years ago

    I always wanted to try on my 5S camera cover screen but even knowing it’s physically impossible to scratch without a diamond, I dare not.

  16.  DrM47145 (@DrM47145) - 10 years ago

    I don’t get it.
    What’s the point in making the iPhone’s screen so bloody resistant when its back is fucking aluminium? You lay your iPhone on its back on a table and it will get scratched. The screen is always upwards and safe from scratches. And if your screen gets scratched or broken, it is easier and cheaper to change its screen than what it is to change its flimsy aluminium unibody.

  17.  DrM47145 (@DrM47145) - 10 years ago

    I don’t get it.
    What’s the point in making the iPhone’s screen so resistant when its back is aluminium? You lay your iPhone on its back on a table and it will get scratched. The screen is always upwards and safe from scratches. And if your screen gets scratched or broken, it is easier and cheaper to change its screen than what it is to change its flimsy aluminium unibody.

  18. And exactly HOW did you determine that it’s made of Sapphire? Because the latest Gorilla glass can do all that too.

    • o0smoothies0o - 10 years ago

      There is no gorilla glass that comes close to the scratch resistance of sapphire. If gorilla glass can withstand all of that then this could or could not be sapphire, either way gorilla glass isn’t anywhere near as good.

    • Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

      Actually the latest Gorilla Glass cannot do all of this.

      Corning has been talking some smack about the sapphire, but everything they have said (they have actually claimed Gorilla Glass 2 is harder and less likely to shatter than sapphire), is completely the opposite of what the science tells us (sapphire is actually much harder and somewhat less likely to shatter).

      Them saying it doesn’t make it true. We will have to see what happens in the real world once the product is introduced, but there is not really any scientific basis for the claims Corning has been making about this issue.

  19. 3gfisch - 10 years ago

    nice to have but i like the corning anti reflective coding much more then the better scratch resistance! no scratches on my iphone 5s or 4s…

    • o0smoothies0o - 10 years ago

      Oh I see, you have already seen the finished Apple panel and know how much reflectance it has, that’s cool.

  20. Alfonso Daniel Curbelo - 10 years ago

    The real question is… Will it blend?