What a horse-shit statement. "Sough after" by whom, exactly? A few analysts and tech blogs? I don't know a single person in real life who gives a shit what the iPhone screen is made of, nor will the hundreds of millions of people who will end up buying the iPhone 6. These analysts really start getting delusional in their little narcissistic bubbles.
Apple will make iPhones screens out of Sapphire if that material has significant advantages over the current glass, and insignificant downsides, and if and when the cost of doing so, and manufacturing complexity is non-prohibitive. I haven't seen real evidence that Sapphire at this time would be an obviously better choice than the newest Gorilla Glass or whatever.
So this analyst is saying that Apple had millions of these specially round-edged GG3 panels just waiting in the wings, and at the last minute they were forced to use them because of low sapphire yield rates? And if the sapphire yield was sufficient, Apple was simply going to give them back to Corning....to recycle?
Yes, one the Apple Watch Edition. Not quite the roll-out I was thinking LOL
edit: sorry, it's on the base Apple Watch also, just not the sport.
This is still the king of the hill watch in design:
Karios! Very interesting watch. It is really an Hybrid. A mechanical watch + Smartwatch. It has it's own OS also - The base OS is Android Wear. Anyway, we had all the "Anal-yst" getting all worked up with $349 price for Apple Watch. This watch has starting pre-order price of $549 (which is discounted 40-50% from MSRP). Their high-end product is $2,149 MSRP (and available in Spring 2015). By the way, it does not have heart monitor and other stuff for fitness use.
Sapphire is the new Liquidmetal. A new pipe dream. All the talk about revolutionary materials comes to naught. I don't become disappointed anymore if these things don't get used. It's always exciting to speculate on how things could be even if they don't come to pass. Who knows? Maybe while I'm still alive, I'll eventually see these specialized materials being used in quantity in some Apple product.
Sapphire is the new Liquidmetal. A new pipe dream. All the talk about revolutionary materials comes to naught. I don't become disappointed anymore if these things don't get used. It's always exciting to speculate on how things could be even if they don't come to pass. Who knows? Maybe while I'm still alive, I'll eventually see these specialized materials being used in quantity in some Apple product.
I said it before, and I'll say it again: Remember in the iP 3GS days, when everybody was all agog about the curved molded plastic back being replaced with sintered alumina? Now it's crystalline alumina screens. Alumina is the new unicorn fur.
If Apple ever does come out with a "sapphire" screen, they should call it "ruby" instead and charge an arm and a leg for it. Why not*? It has as much chromium in it as it does titanium (zero, in both cases).
*Well yes, I know why not—they'd get arrested. There has to be a minimum amount of chromium in your alumina before you can legally call it "ruby" (in the US at least), but apparently you can legally call pure alumina "sapphire".
The analyst isn't a designer nor an engineer, he's an analyst...Apple went with Gorilla Glass 3 because statistics show this type of glass will resist normal scratching long after the average iPhone is dropped 36" on concrete, or worst yet water exposure. Scratched displays are somewhere in the middle of their list for addressing durability of the iPhone line. I'm a stone mason, have an iPhone 5c and minimal surface scratches. My hands are covered in mortar all day. The 5c, although [I]preschool[/I] as is looks and feels, is actually a great iPhone release because it's durable. I'm in the camp that thinks cases suck, they attract germs, wear too easily, and make your iPhone look cheap, tacky. I definitely don't need the extra bulk in my pocket, I'm doing just fine there too.
They will release full sapphire iPhones, but probably as a premium option, and when they do, they'll have likely have a waterproof iPhone by then, and some kind of shock-resistant aramid/alloy back casing. Apple will literally kill off 90% of the case market, which sucks if you're a case maker. But if you hate cases, iPhone 7,8,9...those are worth waiting for.
[B]Why own a full-sapphire iPhone when it becomes worthless by the slightest amount of water? [/B]
Apple didn't do this last minute, they're forecast looks directly at making an indestructible iPhone...from all elements. Not just car keys....but I'm thinking if you can afford a full sapphire iPhone, your car doesn't use a key, does it?
Karios! Very interesting watch. It is really an Hybrid. A mechanical watch + Smartwatch. It has it's own OS also - The base OS is Android Wear. Anyway, we had all the "Anal-yst" getting all worked up with $349 price for Apple Watch. This watch has starting pre-order price of $549 (which is discounted 40-50% from MSRP). Their high-end product is $2,149 MSRP (and available in Spring 2015). By the way, it does not have heart monitor and other stuff for fitness use.
People who can afford that watch can hire others to exercise for them.
Karios! Very interesting watch. It is really an Hybrid. A mechanical watch + Smartwatch. It has it's own OS also - The base OS is Android Wear. Anyway, we had all the "Anal-yst" getting all worked up with $349 price for Apple Watch. This watch has starting pre-order price of $549 (which is discounted 40-50% from MSRP). Their high-end product is $2,149 MSRP (and available in Spring 2015). By the way, it does not have heart monitor and other stuff for fitness use.
1) It's also unable to have an inductive charger due to the mechanical aspects of the watch.
2) That is a smart looking design and I think that style could easily be for high-end watches that also want to be modern. That said, this is an untested company so I would like to see the final product and not just mockups. Apple is mostly in the same boat with Watch except that they have put dozens on display to test and use and have a track record of only announcing when it's a shoe-in, even though some details of the ?Watch could change.
Wow, this "editorial" is a bit slanted, and conveniently ignores some pertinent facts, not to mention just coming off as a personal attack on Matt Margolis.
First - synthetic sapphire is an amazing material. I have an Invicta Divers Watch with a sapphire crystal. After 4 years of heavy use, the watch crystal is completely undamaged - not a single scratch, even though the stainless steel band is heavily scratched.
Imagine having a phone you didn't have to cover! Now, what is that worth to you? Easily it is worth $25 to me. I hate having to cover my iPhone 5 display with a scratch cover - I use a thin glass one that I paid $25 for. Of course, that cover will itself have to be replaced every 6 or 12 months.
It is obvious that Apple is working hard to have sapphire screens on the iPhone. The investment of up to $750M in GTAT is evidence of that. While Margolis did predict the new iPhones would have sapphire, his reporting and analysis is on GTAT - not Apple. If you read his pieces on GTAT, they tend to focus on the company, their technology, and things like production equipment orders, management guidance, number of employees, etc.
The screen covers are coming. It simply doesn't fit the facts to imply that the Mesa Az facility is merely working to produce the sapphire that Apple already uses for camera and fingerprint covers, with the addition of the Apple Watch cover. It's clear there is more to the facility than that, but it was always a bit enthusiastic to think that a brand new production facility could ramp-up capacity in such a short timeframe.
I was expecting them to refresh the Air and Mini with touchId, a new processor and maybe a change in the price of the RAM options.
Maybe even an improvement to the camera.
1) It's also unable to have an inductive charger due to the mechanical aspects of the watch.
2) That is a smart looking design and I think that style could easily be for high-end watches that also want to be modern. That said, this is an untested company so I would like to see the final product and not just mockups. Apple is mostly in the same boat with Watch except that they have put dozens on display to test and use and have a track record of only announcing when it's a shoe-in, even though some details of the ?Watch could change.
A hybrid watch like that is just silly. All the bulk of a normal watch PLUS additional thickness to add the electronics? No thanks.
A hybrid watch like that is just silly. All the bulk of a normal watch PLUS additional thickness to add the electronics? No thanks.
I agree, but I do think there is a middle ground with the digital overlay of an analog watch face. What I'm referring to is having a general watch in a magnitude of styles that looks like a regular watch, but fitted with that transparent display and appropriate electronics. I think there could be a higher-end market for something like that in the future, but today there is no way the electronics will be there. Perhaps in the future the "computer" part of it can be standardized so that it can be swapped out indefinitely for better ones whilst still keeping a classic watch design in play for generations. I know that's a tall order that will likely never come but it's also not impossible.
Comments
Well put my friend.
It's Gorilla Glass 3. It's ion-infused alkali-aluminosilicate sheet toughened glass.
So this analyst is saying that Apple had millions of these specially round-edged GG3 panels just waiting in the wings, and at the last minute they were forced to use them because of low sapphire yield rates? And if the sapphire yield was sufficient, Apple was simply going to give them back to Corning....to recycle?
C'mon now.
He is apparently pumping GT Advanced Technologies stock.
Yes, one the Apple Watch Edition. Not quite the roll-out I was thinking LOL
edit: sorry, it's on the base Apple Watch also, just not the sport.
This is still the king of the hill watch in design:
Karios! Very interesting watch. It is really an Hybrid. A mechanical watch + Smartwatch. It has it's own OS also - The base OS is Android Wear. Anyway, we had all the "Anal-yst" getting all worked up with $349 price for Apple Watch. This watch has starting pre-order price of $549 (which is discounted 40-50% from MSRP). Their high-end product is $2,149 MSRP (and available in Spring 2015). By the way, it does not have heart monitor and other stuff for fitness use.
Sapphire is the new Liquidmetal. A new pipe dream. All the talk about revolutionary materials comes to naught. I don't become disappointed anymore if these things don't get used. It's always exciting to speculate on how things could be even if they don't come to pass. Who knows? Maybe while I'm still alive, I'll eventually see these specialized materials being used in quantity in some Apple product.
I said it before, and I'll say it again: Remember in the iP 3GS days, when everybody was all agog about the curved molded plastic back being replaced with sintered alumina? Now it's crystalline alumina screens. Alumina is the new unicorn fur.
If Apple ever does come out with a "sapphire" screen, they should call it "ruby" instead and charge an arm and a leg for it. Why not*? It has as much chromium in it as it does titanium (zero, in both cases).
*Well yes, I know why not—they'd get arrested. There has to be a minimum amount of chromium in your alumina before you can legally call it "ruby" (in the US at least), but apparently you can legally call pure alumina "sapphire".
They will release full sapphire iPhones, but probably as a premium option, and when they do, they'll have likely have a waterproof iPhone by then, and some kind of shock-resistant aramid/alloy back casing. Apple will literally kill off 90% of the case market, which sucks if you're a case maker. But if you hate cases, iPhone 7,8,9...those are worth waiting for.
[B]Why own a full-sapphire iPhone when it becomes worthless by the slightest amount of water? [/B]
Apple didn't do this last minute, they're forecast looks directly at making an indestructible iPhone...from all elements. Not just car keys....but I'm thinking if you can afford a full sapphire iPhone, your car doesn't use a key, does it?
Nice.
Is sapphire what we’re calling sugar glass these days?
Karios! Very interesting watch. It is really an Hybrid. A mechanical watch + Smartwatch. It has it's own OS also - The base OS is Android Wear. Anyway, we had all the "Anal-yst" getting all worked up with $349 price for Apple Watch. This watch has starting pre-order price of $549 (which is discounted 40-50% from MSRP). Their high-end product is $2,149 MSRP (and available in Spring 2015). By the way, it does not have heart monitor and other stuff for fitness use.
People who can afford that watch can hire others to exercise for them.
Sapphire is the new IPS pink unicorn
But Apple uses IPS everywhere. Sapphire is the new IGZO.
TouchId is the most important technology for Apple.
Given that there aren’t new iPads…
He is trying to save the GT stock, it tanked after the announcement,
It's back up 2.5% today. Hit bottom and already rising as analysts begin to figure out what the article recognizes.
1) It's also unable to have an inductive charger due to the mechanical aspects of the watch.
2) That is a smart looking design and I think that style could easily be for high-end watches that also want to be modern. That said, this is an untested company so I would like to see the final product and not just mockups. Apple is mostly in the same boat with Watch except that they have put dozens on display to test and use and have a track record of only announcing when it's a shoe-in, even though some details of the ?Watch could change.
Wow, this "editorial" is a bit slanted, and conveniently ignores some pertinent facts, not to mention just coming off as a personal attack on Matt Margolis.
First - synthetic sapphire is an amazing material. I have an Invicta Divers Watch with a sapphire crystal. After 4 years of heavy use, the watch crystal is completely undamaged - not a single scratch, even though the stainless steel band is heavily scratched.
Imagine having a phone you didn't have to cover! Now, what is that worth to you? Easily it is worth $25 to me. I hate having to cover my iPhone 5 display with a scratch cover - I use a thin glass one that I paid $25 for. Of course, that cover will itself have to be replaced every 6 or 12 months.
It is obvious that Apple is working hard to have sapphire screens on the iPhone. The investment of up to $750M in GTAT is evidence of that. While Margolis did predict the new iPhones would have sapphire, his reporting and analysis is on GTAT - not Apple. If you read his pieces on GTAT, they tend to focus on the company, their technology, and things like production equipment orders, management guidance, number of employees, etc.
The screen covers are coming. It simply doesn't fit the facts to imply that the Mesa Az facility is merely working to produce the sapphire that Apple already uses for camera and fingerprint covers, with the addition of the Apple Watch cover. It's clear there is more to the facility than that, but it was always a bit enthusiastic to think that a brand new production facility could ramp-up capacity in such a short timeframe.
I was expecting them to refresh the Air and Mini with touchId, a new processor and maybe a change in the price of the RAM options.
Maybe even an improvement to the camera.
Hopefully it will come.
1) It's also unable to have an inductive charger due to the mechanical aspects of the watch.
2) That is a smart looking design and I think that style could easily be for high-end watches that also want to be modern. That said, this is an untested company so I would like to see the final product and not just mockups. Apple is mostly in the same boat with Watch except that they have put dozens on display to test and use and have a track record of only announcing when it's a shoe-in, even though some details of the ?Watch could change.
A hybrid watch like that is just silly. All the bulk of a normal watch PLUS additional thickness to add the electronics? No thanks.
I agree, but I do think there is a middle ground with the digital overlay of an analog watch face. What I'm referring to is having a general watch in a magnitude of styles that looks like a regular watch, but fitted with that transparent display and appropriate electronics. I think there could be a higher-end market for something like that in the future, but today there is no way the electronics will be there. Perhaps in the future the "computer" part of it can be standardized so that it can be swapped out indefinitely for better ones whilst still keeping a classic watch design in play for generations. I know that's a tall order that will likely never come but it's also not impossible.