They could if they can find a market for a $5000 phone. That's actually what I hope Apple's real innovation is- that they find a way to mass produce it inexpensively. I work with quite a bit of industrial sapphire. The surface feels no different than normal glass, but you can throw the stuff at the ground and have zero chance of breaking it, and nothing casual is going to remotely come close to scratching it. We use panes about twice the size of an iPhone and about half as thick.
If Apple can bring the cost down substantially, the fingerprint buttons would just be the start. The real gem would be if they can manufacture sapphire wafers more inexpensively. Silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technology makes for much better RF switches and would be an advantage in making a universal global phone that could operate under a wider range of bandwidths. The biggest detractor to using them now is simply cost (they are already being manufactured and in use mostly for military applications). I think their short term plans are likely just sensor covers, but seeing where they can take the technology will be fun.
Good bit of info there. Thanks.
Question. Have you looked at the investment they have made in Arizona? What are your thoughts on it?
Comments
They could if they can find a market for a $5000 phone. That's actually what I hope Apple's real innovation is- that they find a way to mass produce it inexpensively. I work with quite a bit of industrial sapphire. The surface feels no different than normal glass, but you can throw the stuff at the ground and have zero chance of breaking it, and nothing casual is going to remotely come close to scratching it. We use panes about twice the size of an iPhone and about half as thick.
If Apple can bring the cost down substantially, the fingerprint buttons would just be the start. The real gem would be if they can manufacture sapphire wafers more inexpensively. Silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) technology makes for much better RF switches and would be an advantage in making a universal global phone that could operate under a wider range of bandwidths. The biggest detractor to using them now is simply cost (they are already being manufactured and in use mostly for military applications). I think their short term plans are likely just sensor covers, but seeing where they can take the technology will be fun.
Good bit of info there. Thanks.
Question. Have you looked at the investment they have made in Arizona? What are your thoughts on it?