Corning Unveils Gorilla Glass DX and Gorilla Glass DX+ for Wearables
by Anton Shilov on July 20, 2018 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Wearables
- Corning
- Gorilla Glass DX
Corning has introduced its new Gorilla Glass DX and DX+ protective glass substrates designed specifically for wearables and featuring not only scratch resistance and durability, but also antireflective and contrast-improving properties.
Corning’s Gorilla Glass DX and Gorilla Glass DX+ are evolution of the company’s Gorilla Glass SR+ protective composites for wearables and other devices featuring small screens. In a bid to better address applications like smartwatches, the new substrates feature an antireflective property that is said to be 75% better than that of ‘standard glass’ as well as a special structure that improves contrast ratio of a display by 50% at the same brightness level vs. standard glass. Both features are important for wearables because they reduce necessity to increase brightness and therefore prolong battery life.
When it comes to differences between Gorilla Glass DX and Gorilla Glass DX+, Corning says that while optical properties are the same, the latter features a better scratch resistance that approaches that of “alternative luxury cover materials.” It is unknown whether the DX+ is comparable to sapphire glass, but it is natural for Corning to compete against this material used on fine watches and expensive smartphones.
As usual, Corning does not disclose chemical composition of its Gorilla Glass DX and DX+ substrates and the only thing we know that they are good enough for wearables. Meanwhile, they are not going to replace Gorilla Glass 5/6 on smartphones, possibly because their properties do not work so well on larger screens that are used differently than wearables (e.g., smartphones fall many times throughout their lifetime, wearables usually do not). Corning does say that the DX and DX+ substrates could be used for devices with screens larger than LCDs of smart watches, but does not elaborate.
Corning did not indicate when it expects its customers to start adoption of the Gorilla Glass DX and DX+.
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Source: Corning
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Frenetic Pony - Friday, July 20, 2018 - link
So there might be a worthy "wearable" sometime soon?Tech companies I just want to comfortably forget my phone if I'm wearing one of these things. Stuff like music streaming, audio directions from maps, and messages being converted to audio would actually sell me on this. Instead of a barely more convenient way to control the phone I have in my pocket.
JeffFlanagan - Friday, July 20, 2018 - link
I think you're asking for something that is not possible with current battery technology. We have our phones do the heavy lifting while the watch is just a display for a reason.I don't think I'd want a high enough density battery to handle serious computing and communications on my wrist. I'd like to keep both hands.
Yojimbo - Saturday, July 21, 2018 - link
Solid state batteries, if they pan out, should be safer than the current batteries, and have higher energy density as well. Maybe there's also the possibility of using fuel cells, though I think that would be quite a ways out. I think MicroLED displays should be more energy efficient than current displays, as well.chaos215bar2 - Friday, July 20, 2018 - link
Small nit: Wearables may not fall very often, but they absolutely do get smacked into hard objects, so impact resistance is still essential. I don't think I've dropped a phone in over 10 years. I've definitely run my watch into a few door frames.Lolimaster - Friday, July 20, 2018 - link
Maybe you're to FAT.Amandtec - Friday, July 20, 2018 - link
Perhaps you mean 'too' and not 'to'.Besides - File Allocation Table is so 1998.
tipoo - Monday, July 23, 2018 - link
I mean you still might want exFAT for NAND and if you want to use it on multiple operating systemsmkozakewich - Sunday, July 22, 2018 - link
My Pebble was good for a couple years, and then I accidentally brushed it against a pillar in a mall. It turns out they'd used some kind of granite face on the pillar, and so I ended up with some pretty extreme scratches.quorm - Friday, July 20, 2018 - link
Lol at that phone mockup. That's what I want to see when I look at my watch. A gorilla and a clock I can barely read. But mostly a gorilla.tipoo - Monday, July 23, 2018 - link
I for one always want to see Harambe when I open my devices