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Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5 has drop protection up to 5.2 ft, likely headed to future iPhones

Corning, the company behind the popular Gorilla Glass brand, today announced the next iteration of its cover glass for mobile displays, a likely candidate for future Apple devices including the iPhone 7. Corning says that Gorilla Glass 5 survives drops onto rough surfaces four times better than other solutions, noting that clarity of the display and touch sensitivity are not affected.

Gorilla Glass 5 is said to survive facedown drops from 5.2 feet onto a rough surface 80 percent of the time. The product is the successor to Gorilla Glass 4, which was introduced in the fall of 2014. Gorilla Glass 4 was only advertised as capable of surviving drops from up to 3.2 feet, though that was still a notable improvement over previous iterations.

According to a study cited by Corning, over 85 percent of smartphone users have dropped their phones at least once per year, while 55 percent have dropped their devices three or more times. That’s why, Corning says, that it focused time around on improving Gorilla Glass’s drop resistance:

“With each successive generation of Corning Gorilla Glass, we have taken cover glass technology to new levels. Gorilla Glass 5 is no exception, extending Corning’s advantage in drop performance over competitive glasses,” said John Bayne, vice president and general manager, Corning Gorilla Glass. “With many real-world drops occurring from between waist and shoulder height, we knew improving drop performance would be an important and necessary advancement.”

Currently, Gorilla Glass 5 is available to manufacturers and Corning expects it to start appearing in consumer devices later this year, though no specific partnerships were announced. The company says that Gorilla Glass has been used on over 4.5 billion devices worldwide by over 40 different major brands.

It’s unclear at this point if the iPhone 7 or iPhone 8 will take advantage of Corning’s new Gorilla Glass 5 offering. Apple’s agreement with Corning has been interesting in the past. The two companies are said to have an agreement that does not allow Corning to list Apple or the iPhone on its website, though they are working together. Nevertheless, Gorilla Glass 5 seems likely for upcoming iPhones.

Corning Unveils Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5

New flagship cover glass takes tough to new heights , while maintaining leadership in optical clarity, touch sensitivity, and damage resistance

CORNING, N.Y., July 20, 2016  — Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) today unveiled its latest breakthrough innovation – Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5. Responding to consumers’ No. 1 issue with mobile devices, the new cover glass is designed to provide further protection against breakage from everyday drops. Rigorous lab tests show that Gorilla Glass 5 survives drops onto rough, unforgiving surfaces up to four times better than competitive glass designs.

The unique attributes of Gorilla Glass 5 build on the best-in-class performance of previous generations of Corning Gorilla Glass. Mobile devices are the primary tools consumers use to capture, view, create, send and consume digital content, and the cover glass is the interface for touching, typing and swiping that content. Consumers count on their cover glass to deliver damage resistance, optical clarity, touch sensitivity, and protection from drops.

Gorilla Glass 5 Delivers
According to a recent global study*, over 85% of smartphone owners have dropped their phones at least once per year and 55% have dropped their phones three times or more. Additionally, more than 60% of smartphone owners reported dropping their devices between shoulder and waist height.

“With each successive generation of Corning Gorilla Glass, we have taken cover glass technology to new levels. Gorilla Glass 5 is no exception, extending Corning’s advantage in drop performance over competitive glasses,” said John Bayne, vice president and general manager, Corning Gorilla Glass. “With many real-world drops occurring from between waist and shoulder height, we knew improving drop performance would be an important and necessary advancement.”

In lab tests, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 survives up to 80 percent of the time when dropped face-down from 1.6 meters onto rough surfaces, far outperforming competitive glass designs.

Leveraging its strengths in glass science and fusion manufacturing, Corning leads the cover glass industry it created nearly 10 years ago. Corning Gorilla Glass has been used on more than 4.5 billion devices worldwide, including more than 1,800 product models across 40 major brands. Gorilla Glass 5 will allow manufacturers to provide the ultimate in high-resolution, touch-enabled devices.

“Corning has a 165-year history of delivering life-changing innovations,” Bayne said. “Gorilla Glass 5 is the latest example of Corning applying its material-science expertise to solve tough consumer challenges in a way that impacts people’s everyday lives.

Corning Gorilla Glass 5 is commercially available and is expected to be on product models from leading global brands later this year.

* Numbers noted are averages of an 11-country study of global smartphone users, based on  Toluna’s Quicksurvey panel. Countries included the U.S., Brazil, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, India, Russia, China, and Indonesia. Collectively, these countries represent 3.9 billion people, or 54% of the world’s population.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com