2024.01.24
Corning glass-backed Galaxy S24 boasts enhanced durability
By Jo He-rim, The
Korea Herald - Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S24 Ultra can withstand a drop on a
concrete surface thanks to an exclusive high-strength glass known as Corning
Gorilla Armor, which was developed with Corning for greater durability and
visual clarity, according to the global glass maker.
With live
demonstrations of the new screen glass, John Bayne, the senior vice president
and general manager in charge of mobile consumer electronics at Corning,
presented the Corning Gorilla Armor, which has been featured in the latest
Galaxy S24 Ultra.
"Typically,
Corning would focus on the impacts of a drop when it develops new glass
products for strength, (as well as on the) cover glass that protects the phone,
as it is the No. 1 consumer pain point," Bayne said in a press conference
held on the sidelines of the Galaxy Unpacked 2024 event in San Jose,
California, on Wednesday.
"But with
Corning Gorilla Armor, the company focused on three things at once. Durability
against dropping on the floor, surface scratches, and improving optical
reflection," Bayne said.
According to the
Corning executive, Corning Gorilla Armor survived more rigorous tests than
rival glasses. For example, the glass was dropped from three times higher and
not only endured the impact but showed four times fewer scratches when compared
to competitors' products. At the same time, the glass's light reflection has
also been reduced to improve visual clarity.
At the press
conference, Corning carried out live demonstrations of slapper and scratch
tests.
Corning Gorilla
Armor passed the slapper test, where it was slapped on sandpaper. The
competitors' glass shattered immediately. The test was designed to simulate how
a user would drop a smartphone on a concrete floor from waist height.
The Corning product
also showed no visible scratches in the test done by the Scratch Bot, which
replicated micro scratches caused by day-to-day wear.
According to Bayne,
the force exerted on the smartphone screen when the user wipes clean the phone
or puts it in the pocket is between 1 to 1.5 kilograms. So while the
competitor’s glasses would be scratched from those daily actions, the Gorilla
Armor would be resistant to up to 4 kilograms of force exerted on it, the
senior vice president explained.
Galaxy S24 Ultra
users will also see the optical benefit of the new glass right from when they
take out the smartphone from the box, which has reduced the reflection rate for
enhanced display readability.
“When the smartphone
(screen is turned off), you’ll see less reflection. (The screen) is a deeper
black and you’ll have a better visual experience because it’ll seem brighter
and have better contrast with the fewer reflections that interrupt your viewing
experience,” Bayne said.
While glass would
typically show an average of 4 percent reflection, Corning Gorilla Armor glass
has reduced that to less than 1 percent, Bayne explained.
Gorilla Armor
contains an average of 25 percent pre-consumer recycled content, as validated
by UL Solutions in accordance with UL2809-2 Environmental Claim Validation
Procedure for Recycled Content.
The launch of Galaxy
S24 Ultra phones with Gorilla Armor follows a celebratory year for Samsung and
Corning. Last year marked 50 years of an industry-leading partnership for the
companies. Samsung and Corning first partnered in 1973 to make televisions more
accessible to consumers in Korea.
With the decadeslong
partnership, Samsung has been employing Corning's products in many of its
devices, including the Galaxy S23 Series, the Galaxy Z Fold5 and the Galaxy Z
Flip5, which all use Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Source: https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240122000580