Samsung and LG Reportedly Exploring Sapphire Crystal Displays

Apple is leading the way in the adoption of sapphire, with the company producing the material in limited quantities in its new Arizona plant. A portion of this material is expected to land in the iPhone 6 and possibly the iWatch as a scratch-resistant display material. According to Korean media reports (via GforGames), both Samsung and LG are showing renewed interest in sapphire following Apple's early success in manufacturing the material.

sapphire_furnaces

Furnaces for sapphire glass production

LG and Samsung allegedly explored the feasibility of using sapphire in their phones last year, but rejected the material due to the high cost of production. Now that Apple is moving forward with the material, Samsung and LG are reevaluating their earlier decisions, reaching out to sapphire glass manufacturers and requesting product samples for examination.

This year however, the aforementioned Korean tech giants might be forced by the industry to reconsider their decision. With numerous other gadget manufacturers putting a lot of thought into making sapphire glass feasible, and with Apple already operating the sapphire glass processing plant in US, Arizona, LG and Samsung are supposedly going to jump on the sapphire display bandwagon sooner rather than later.

Sapphire may be a critical component of Apple's rumored iWatch, providing an outer scratch-resistant layer to the wrist-worn device. Recent rumors also suggest Apple may incorporate a sapphire crystal display into its upcoming iPhone 6. A recent research note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests the initial supply of sapphire displays could be limited, forcing Apple to use the material only in select high-end models of the upcoming handset.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
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Top Rated Comments

SilverL Avatar
143 months ago
Filed under: Copying. Apple. See previous attempts.

At least someone acknowledges Apple is an innovator.
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cyborg21 Avatar
143 months ago
I must congratulate Samsung for their business strategy. 1) Copy 2) Bash company you copied 3) Pay money to all media to get rid of ''Samsung is a copycat'' news 4) Make people believe you are best and original 5) When you sued, bash company again 6) Make lawsuit happen as late as possible 7) Counter-sue 8) Repeat the cycle

Isn't it right? It's pretty obvious Samsung copies Apple and some other companies and there are still some people believing Samsung is original and Apple's lawsuit is baloney.


edit:

"Apple is leading the way in the adoption of sapphire"
Are you for real ?? Apple is NOT LEADING NOTHING !
The ONLY thing Apple are leading is it's own OS : iOS.. Nothing else..
See?
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
moetownslick Avatar
143 months ago
Isn't this getting a bit ridiculous, Samsung?
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
furi0usbee Avatar
143 months ago
Samsung? No way. I don't believe it. Samsung is a pioneer in the tech industry and I'm sure they are looking at skipping sapphire and moving straight to diamond screens. I'm sure of it. It's diamond clear to me.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D.T. Avatar
143 months ago
Samsung and LG exploring idea of developing ultra-thin, solid state storage, aluminum notebook computers running new operating system called OSZ.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gnasher729 Avatar
143 months ago
Apple isn't really "leading the way" until they produce a product with it, right?

Wrong. It's called "leading the way", not "arriving first". For "being the first to use sapphire crystal displays in a phone", they'd have to produce a product. "Leading the way" means "being followed". If some luxury phone maker built some thousand phones with sapphire crystal before Apple, they would be first, but if they are not followed then it would still be Apple "leading the way".
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)