New photos of Apple's sapphire plant show build progressing as rumors point to project expansion

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  • Reply 21 of 51
    flaneur wrote: »
    Lenses for Apple's wearable video screens, stereo of course, called iWatch.

    That falls under 'something completely new'.
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  • Reply 22 of 51
    solipsismx wrote: »
    So far you and everyone else has mentioned a current part or something new.

    Such a hilarious thread! ????
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  • Reply 23 of 51
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,547member
    Americans are notorious for being late on everything.
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  • Reply 24 of 51
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    netrox wrote: »
    Americans are notorious for being late on everything.

    Can you elaborate?
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  • Reply 25 of 51
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Benjamin Frost is going to become notorious if he continues posting effectively the same thing 6 times over ;-P

    P.S. I think he's making a joke about a couple of world wars.
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  • Reply 26 of 51
    sudonymsudonym Posts: 233member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post

     
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    ...some speculate the component will either be a replacement part for current hardware, such as an iPhone screen, or something completely new.




    What other options are there?

     

    They could use the sapphire for hardware that they no longer make?

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  • Reply 27 of 51
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    ronmg wrote:
    I think solipsismx's point is that the author said "some speculate the component will either be a replacement part for current hardware, such as an iPhone screen, or something completely new". You don't have to speculate that - those are the only two options!! I guess a third option would be a replacement part for old hardware but that makes no sense.
    So you're back to two options.

    I have to give that to him. He's technically correct since an old component is not the same as current component, and wouldn't be a new component type for the iPhone if they decided to re-include it.

    That said I am not sure what component type has been removed We're likely talking a glass or plastic component. Does that mean the back casing of the iPhone 4/4S with sapphire instead of Gorilla Glass would count? I wouldn't count that since the current iPhone still has a back casing, it just replaced glass with metal.

    So he's right… but, as you state, we're probably still back to two options.
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  • Reply 28 of 51
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    That falls under 'something completely new'.

    Not really. The patents go back several years, an old idea for Apple. Sapphire is just a better way of doing an old thing.*



    *Ok, I confess I didn't get the joke.
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  • Reply 29 of 51
    solipsismx wrote: »
    What other options are there?
    It will be in a quantum state in which it is both completely new and not completely new at the same time, until you observe it, at which time it will randomly collapse into one or the other.
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  • Reply 30 of 51
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    It will be in a quantum state in which it is both completely new and not completely new at the same time, until you observe it, at which time it will randomly collapse into one or the other.

    Schrödinger's component?
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  • Reply 31 of 51
    solipsismx wrote: »
    What other options are there?
    Another option is just for fun
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  • Reply 32 of 51
    Yes, they're doing it to simply throw Samsung off, and get them to invest in something they too have no use for. Brilliant, Apple.
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  • Reply 33 of 51
    Several other uses for sapphire are in lasers and logic chips. GT is suspected of big advances in thinner layers of sapphire (it has been used as non-conductive oxide layer in logic chips, laid on silicon). Sapphire is also capable of being doped as in ruby lasers where ruby is the dopant-- but also with other dopants to create semiconductor chips. Perhaps Apple's considerable acquisition of chip development talent over the years along with significant yields and scale for GT and other aspects in sapphire would suggest a couple of options.
    -
    Sapphire allows for faster operations in use with silicon at lower power. This is critical in miniaturization with increase in speed and lower power requirements. And then there's the elephant in the room that has been assumed to further in the future -- blindingly fast optical circuits increasingly competitive in low power. This is getting interesting. This is admittedly unknowledgeable speculation on my part, but we know Apple has a wealth in logic design, has acquired more talent through acquisitions and partnerships -- where is this leading? Sapphire shows promise in solar as well. The adjacent property to the GT plant is expected to be used by the Apple GT partnership and may be used for solar power generation and/or production of solar devices.

    Solar forays always involve battery advances, and the talks with Tesla may be a budding partnership in battery advances in design, yield and efficiency. Add to all this the research with carbon nanotubes in chip design (already associated with sapphire), and we may being seeing a feasible roadplan for 5 to 10 years for great advances by Apple and partners in compute power and speed at low power requirements on orders of magnitude allowing for very small embedded devices in wearables and household and commercial devices. The new net if you will.
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  • Reply 34 of 51
    tzterritzterri Posts: 115member
    It's so obvious... they are going to start producing Steve Jobs action figures made out of sapphire.
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  • Reply 35 of 51
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    I expect the next iPhone unibody chassis to be milled from a single block of oleophobic sapphire. Anything else would be a disappointment.
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  • Reply 36 of 51
    jellybelly wrote: »
    Several other uses for sapphire are in lasers and logic chips. GT is suspected of big advances in thinner layers of sapphire (it has been used as non-conductive oxide layer in logic chips, laid on silicon). Sapphire is also capable of being doped as in ruby lasers where ruby is the dopant-- but also with other dopants to create semiconductor chips. Perhaps Apple's considerable acquisition of chip development talent over the years along with significant yields and scale for GT and other aspects in sapphire would suggest a couple of options.
    -
    Sapphire allows for faster operations in use with silicon at lower power. This is critical in miniaturization with increase in speed and lower power requirements. And then there's the elephant in the room that has been assumed to further in the future -- blindingly fast optical circuits increasingly competitive in low power. This is getting interesting. This is admittedly unknowledgeable speculation on my part, but we know Apple has a wealth in logic design, has acquired more talent through acquisitions and partnerships -- where is this leading? Sapphire shows promise in solar as well. The adjacent property to the GT plant is expected to be used by the Apple GT partnership and may be used for solar power generation and/or production of solar devices.

    Solar forays always involve battery advances, and the talks with Tesla may be a budding partnership in battery advances in design, yield and efficiency. Add to all this the research with carbon nanotubes in chip design (already associated with sapphire), and we may being seeing a feasible roadplan for 5 to 10 years for great advances by Apple and partners in compute power and speed at low power requirements on orders of magnitude allowing for very small embedded devices in wearables and household and commercial devices. The new net if you will.

    RAM ?
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  • Reply 37 of 51
    chipsychipsy Posts: 287member
    I think if there is an iWatch sapphire would be a logical and likely choice. Whether or not the iPhone will have sapphire will depend. It probably is on the table and will depend on the yield they are able to get. But if you look GT Advanced's prediction for the second half of this year (total sales and such) it should be possible to produce between 30 and 40 million displays at the by GT Advanced predicted price of around 12 dollars per unit (around 16 with gross margin included). These of course are just predictions by GT Advanced and there can always be some kind of snag but theoretically it should be possible for the iPhone 6 to have a sapphire display.
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  • Reply 38 of 51
    I've been doing some surfing ...

    It turns out that sapphire may be a faster, lower-power alternative to silicon in the manufacture of semiconductors:

    [QUOTE]Synthetic single-crystal sapphire is a single crystal form of corundum, Al2O3, also known as alpha-alumina, alumina, and single crystal Al2O3. Sapphire is aluminium oxide in the purest form with no porosity or grain boundaries, making it theoretically dense. The combination of favourable chemical, electrical, mechanical, optical, surface, thermal, and durability properties make sapphire a preferred material for high performance system and component designs.
    High purity and low dislocation density make Kyropoulos sapphire an ideal material for a wide range of electronic substrates. We can supply epi-polished sapphire substrates according to SEMI standard, as well as per customer specification. We are able to deliver the tightest specification in the industry to meet all your particular requirements.[/QUOTE]

    http://www.mt-berlin.com/frames_cryst/descriptions/sapphire_epi.htm

    [QUOTE][SIZE=4][B]Sapphire Semiconductors? Gem-Like Material May Promise Faster, Smaller, More Reliable Circuits, UD Prof Says[/B][/SIZE]

    Date: July 14, 1998

    Source: University Of Delaware

    Summary:
    Alumina-better known as sapphire or ruby in its mineral form-may promise faster, smaller, more reliable computer circuits. University of Delaware researchers have developed a new technique that produces extremely thin, alumina films offering an electrical storage capacity three times greater than silicon dioxide, the material most commonly used in existing transistors-the 'on/off' switching devices in semiconducting circuits.[/QUOTE]

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/07/980714072357.htm
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  • Reply 39 of 51
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 4,061member
    Apple, a company which prides itself on progressive social initiatives and green everything, drops a plum in the lap of a state which prides itself on anti- immigrant policies, anti-gay legislation, and neo know-nothing politics. Yeah, I know, tax benefits, yadda-yadda. Just gotta ask . . .
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  • Reply 40 of 51
    Apple, a company which prides itself on progressive social initiatives and green everything, drops a plum in the lap of a state which prides itself on anti- immigrant policies, anti-gay legislation, and neo know-nothing politics. Yeah, I know, tax benefits, yadda-yadda. Just gotta ask . . .
    Janet Napolitano

    Janet Ann Napolitano (/n?p?l??tæno?/;[1] born November 29, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who is the 20th and current president of the University of California system.[2]

    Napolitano is the first woman to serve as the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, in office from 2009 to 2013.
    Napolitano, a member of the Democratic Party, served in the administration of President Barack Obama. Previously, she was the 21st Governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009. She was Arizona's third female governor, and the first woman to win re-election. Prior to her election as Governor, she served as Attorney General of Arizona from 1999 to 2002. She was the first woman and the 23rd person to serve in that office. Napolitano is the 1977 Truman Scholar from New Mexico.

    Napolitano is the fourth person (including an acting Secretary) to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security, a post that was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Forbes ranked her as the world's ninth most powerful woman in 2012.[3] In 2008, she was cited by The New York Times to be among the women most likely to become the first female President of the United States.[4] Napolitano resigned at the end of August 2013 to become the first woman to be President of the University of California system.[5][6]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Napolitano
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