It does seem as though both Apple and Gorilla Glass will be kissing each other goodbye when the iPhone 6 hits the market. Apparently, Apple will be making the jump to a sapphire screen-coating for their next generation iPhone, and just in case you were wondering, sapphire coating has long been a feature in high-end watches for quite some time already because of its high-durability and scratch-resistance capabilities. Right now, sapphire coating on an iPhone is limited to its camera lenses as well as the iPhone 5s’ fingerprint sensor. It has been rumored as well that the upcoming iWatch device will also feature sapphire coating.
GT Advanced is the company behind Apple’s sapphire coating, and they do seem as though they are going to make quite a hefty profit from this deal. It is the iPhone 6 that we’re talking about here, where it could be approximately $500 to $700 million for the first half year alone, considering how coating a display with sapphire would increase the cost by three to fourfold compared to coating it with Gorilla Glass. It remains to be seen the exact number of displays that GT Advanced will be producing, but it does not seem as though enough has been produced to meet the rumored iPhone 6 shipment date.
