Believe it or not, the generation that is entering the workforce now probably doesn’t remember a time without a smartphone. As we approach the 15-year anniversary of Gorilla Glass, we thought it was a good time to review the history and science of Gorilla Glass and the problems we were solving throughout the last decade and a half.
Why The History Lesson?
Why The History Lesson?
2013
2013
In 2013, Leena is a young working professional who has recently moved to the city of her dreams – Mumbai, and uses a smartphone gifted by her father on her last birthday. As she boards the crowded local train to commute to work, she hurriedly throws her smartphone into her bag. The contents of her bag tumble against the glass on her smartphone which can cause scratches or flaws to be introduced. When a flaw is introduced to glass and it propagates, the glass can break. Fortunately for Leena she has a phone with Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3. In January of 2013, Corning Gorilla Glass launched Gorilla Glass 3 at CES.
Gorilla Glass 3 when Compared to Alternative Aluminosilicate Glass:
- Improves scratch-resistance
- Reduces scratch visibility
- Enables improved strength after scratch
What were you doing in 2013? What technology did you remember?
2016
2016
In 2016, Leena, a 26-year-old working professional is grocery-shopping on a Sunday morning while vlogging her entire experience on her smartphone. She is seen walking through a crowded local marketplace where she pulls out her smartphone to click photos for her social handles, but the cart carrying vegetables knocks it out of her hand.
This is a typical scenario. Leena always needs her phone, whether it’s for taking photos, checking email, using GPS, or countless other things. It’s clear that the smartphone is a necessity.
By 2016, the app downloads in India reached 90 billion. The total time spent by Indians on the top 10 video streaming apps on Android phones increased 600% between July and December 2016 compared to the same period a year ago. The smartphone was an item that went with people everywhere they went. People were constantly pulling their phone out and looking at it, which meant it inevitably got dropped. The scientists at Corning®️ Gorilla®️ Glass had to create a type of cover glass that was more durable than before. Gorilla Glass 5 was launched in 2016 and offered smartphones the durability they needed to keep up with consumers’ constant use of a device. Gorilla Glass 5 allowed flaws to go deeper before the glass would fail in a drop event compared to alternative cover glass.
2018
2018
In 2018, Leena is a 28-year-old who like her fellow millennials admires the towering beauty of mountains and embarks on her first trek with a group of experienced trekkers. She hikes to the Uttarakhand's Valley of Flowers where an astonishing array of colorful wildflowers bloom towards the end of the monsoon season. It’s a sunny day outside and the trail she’s trekking is challenging.
She looks down at her smartwatch to see how far she’s gone. She easily can see the data on her screen because her watch has Corning Gorilla Glass DX, a glass composite that helps with sunlight readability.
In July 2018, Corning launched a glass composite called Gorilla Glass DX and DX+ specifically for wearables. The glass composite minimized surface reflection to enhance sunlight readability. If you weren’t in a bright environment, you could turn down your brightness and save battery life.
Coming Soon: 2020
Coming Soon: 2020
Watch this space as we continue to illustrate the history and science of Corning Gorilla Glass.
Meet our illustrious illustrator
Sneha Dasgupta is a visual designer and illustrator based out of Mumbai, India. With 6 years of experience in branding and design and apart from having a mean liking for a solid layout and a yummy font, she likes to believe that she has a unique (read weird) perspective on everyday things and tries to visually translate it into designs that people can connect to easily but deeply. A lot of her illustrative work revolves around mental health and light-hearted ways of dealing with the baggage we all carry. Oh also, she loves cows, sprinkles, and naming fruits — yes, in that order.
