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
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)
Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
iPhone Fold Vertical Feature

Apple's 2026 Foldable iPhone Has No Visible Display Crease – Report

Tuesday February 25, 2025 2:58 am PST by
Apple is making significant headway on its long-rumored foldable iPhone, with a new report suggesting the company has achieved a major breakthrough by effectively eliminating the screen crease that plagues current foldable devices. According to Korean publication ETNews, Apple is finalizing its component suppliers for the foldable iPhone, with the selection process expected to be completed...
trump iphone dictation issue

Apple Fixing 'Trump' Dictation Processing Bug

Tuesday February 25, 2025 1:18 pm PST by
Multiple iPhone owners today noticed a pronunciation processing issue that causes the word "Trump" to momentarily show up when using dictation to send a message with the word "racist." In some cases, when speaking the word racist through the iPhone's built-in dictation feature, the iPhone briefly interprets the spoken word as "Trump" and "Trump" text shows up in the Messages app before being ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
airtag orange

AirTag 2 Rumored to Launch in May or June With These New Features

Monday February 24, 2025 6:11 am PST by
Apple plans to launch a second-generation AirTag in May or June this year, according to a post today from a leaker known as Kosutami. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported that a new AirTag would be released in mid-2025. May or June would align with that timeframe. Below, we recap three new features rumored for the AirTag 2: With a second-generation Ultra Wideband chip, the...
ios 18 4 carplay

iOS 18.4 Includes a Small But Useful Change for CarPlay

Sunday February 23, 2025 2:23 pm PST by
The first beta of iOS 18.4 is now available, and it includes a small but useful change for CarPlay. As we noted in our list of iOS 18.4 features, CarPlay now shows a third row of icons, up from two rows previously. However, this change is only visible in vehicles with a larger center display. For example, a MacRumors Forums member noticed the change in a Toyota Tundra, which can be equipped...

Top Rated Comments

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

At least someone acknowledges Apple is an innovator.
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Cyborg21 Avatar
141 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
141 months ago
Isn't this getting a bit ridiculous, Samsung?
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
furi0usbee Avatar
141 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
141 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
141 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)