What does gorilla glass 3 mean? Protective Glass Corning Gorilla Glass and Its Varieties

Nowadays, smartphones value not only performance, but also quality. The main thing in smartphones is resistance to falls, scratches, and water. Therefore, safety glass is gaining popularity. Gorilla Glass can definitely be called the most famous protective glass. It is used in the manufacture of telephones. Protective glass is also used in tablets.

According to statistics, every person drops their device about 10 times a year. So many falls can break your tablet/phone to pieces. Gorilla Glass really helps with the fear of breaking your phone.

For example, Nokia Lumia smartphones have Gorilla coating. The smartphone falls at a distance of 1.5 meters onto the asphalt, but remains completely undamaged. This is far from the only example proving the effectiveness of such protection. A large number of experiments were carried out to test the effect of glass. It successfully passed all tests. Many users specifically look for smartphones with this coating.

The first mobile phone with such protective glass is Nokia N8 (2008). The use of screen protection became especially important after the advent of touch phones. This is explained by the fact that the touch screen is highly susceptible to mechanical damage. This glass is made from aluminum silicates.

There are currently six generations of Gorilla Glass:

Gorilla Glass 1(2008).
Gorilla Glass 2(2012). The glass is 20% thinner and is difficult but possible to scratch.
Gorilla Glass 3(2013). It is 40% more resistant to mechanical damage, 50% more resistant to shock.
Gorilla Glass 4(2015).
Gorilla Glass 5 falls from a distance of up to 1.6 m without damage.
Gorilla Glass 6 has indicators twice as good as those of the fifth generation. At the moment, glass of this generation is the best, most reliable and strongest. But manufacturers don't stop! They continue to look for new combinations and conduct experiments to create even more perfect glass.

Many manufacturers of both expensive and budget brands use Gorilla Glass protective glass, which has proven itself to be excellent.

List of budget smartphones with Gorilla Glass protection:

1. Ulefone Amor

A budget phone for people who love extreme sports. The smartphone can withstand being dropped from a height or immersed in water. The body has metal inserts, which attracts many people.

Key Features:

Screen: 4.7 inches.
OS: Android 6.0.
RAM: 3 GB.
Main camera: 13 MP.
Selfie camera: 5 MP.
Battery: 3000 mAh.

2. DOOGEE Mix Lite

Budget frameless phone with Gorilla Glass coating. It stands out for its low price and beautiful frameless design. The screen is quite large, but comfortable to hold in the user's hand.

Key Features:

Screen 5.2 inches.
OS: Android 6.0.
RAM: 2 GB.
Main camera: 13 MP.
Selfie camera: 8 MP.
Battery: 3080 mAh.

A very beautiful phone that looks expensive. The black metal body adds strength to the design. A real courageous smartphone is suitable for life in a metropolis and for long journeys! Screen coating Gorilla Glass 3. You can use two SIM cards.

Key Features:

Screen 5.0 inches.
OS: Android 6.0.
RAM: 2 GB.
Main camera: 8 MP.
Selfie camera: 2 MP.
Battery: 3050 mAh.

Frameless smartphone with a fingerprint scanner. It has all the necessary qualities of a modern smartphone.

Key Features:

Screen 5.5 inches.
OS: Android 7.0.
RAM: 3 GB.
Main camera: 13 MP.
Selfie camera: 13 MP.
Battery: 3000 mAh.

Chinese frameless smartphone with dual camera. It has excellent quality and an inexpensive price.

Key Features:

Screen 5.7 inches.
OS: Android 7.0.
RAM: 2 GB.
Main camera: 8 MP.
Selfie camera: 5 MP.
Battery: 3000 mAh.

6. Xiaomi Redmi 5

A smartphone with an incredibly beautiful design in a modern style. A thin smartphone that meets all user requirements.

Key Features:

Screen 5.7 inches.
OS: Android 7.1.2.
RAM: 2/3 GB.
Main camera: 12 MP.
Selfie camera: 5 MP.
Battery: 3300 mAh.

A beautiful thin smartphone, the body combines metal and plastic, which especially captivates buyers. The screen is covered with protective glass Gorilla Glass 3. Supports two SIM cards.

Key Features:

Screen 5.5 inches.
OS: Android 6.0.
RAM: 4 GB.
Main camera: 13 MP.
Selfie camera: 8 MP.
Battery: 3000 mAh.

8. Xiaomi Redmi Note 5

One of the new smartphones from the Chinese company. Very stylish and beautiful, has a scanner for an individual hand pattern. Aluminum body with plastic parts. A huge screen opens up great technical possibilities for watching movies, TV series or just videos. Several colors give everyone the opportunity to choose a smartphone to their liking.

Key Features:

Screen 5.99 inches.
OS: Android 7.1.2.
Memory: 3/4 GB.
Main camera: 12 MP.
Selfie camera: 5 MP.
Battery: 4000 mAh.

The protective element of the screen in modern smartphones is glass, which has replaced plastic resistive touchscreens. But glass, compared to transparent polymers, has one significant drawback: it is fragile. One small blow and the screen becomes covered with a web of cracks. In order to prevent such an outcome, tempered glass with increased strength is being actively developed. Their most famous manufacturer is the American company Corning, famous for its Gorilla Glass brand.

Gorilla Glass is a glass with a special composition that has been subjected to chemical and physical processing. Its purpose is to modify the structure of the material to increase resistance to scratches and impacts. Another advantage is that it reduces the risk of injury: shards of tempered glass do not have very sharp edges. When using a smartphone with cracked glass, the risk of cutting your finger is significantly reduced. The same goes for a phone screen accidentally crushed in your pocket.

The idea of using chemical treatment of glass to impart strength was born in the first half of the 20th century. Then soda-lime glass was invented, which has increased reliability. In 1959, Corning began testing various glass chemical processing methods. Then, using alkaline compounds and aluminosilicate, Chemcor glass was created, which was later used in aviation and motor vehicles. But it was not widely used.

Everything changed in 2006, when Apple began developing the first iPhone. The plastic of resistive touchscreens quickly wore out and scratched, which Jobs did not like. The Apple leader turned to Corning management and proposed reviving the technology. At that time, the company was already independently trying to resume research in this direction. Cooperation with Apple has allowed us to significantly increase investment in development. As a result, the first generation of Gorilla Glass was born.

Gorilla Glass is made using ion exchange hardening technology. Classic silicate glass is immersed in a melt of potassium salts, heated to temperatures of about 400-500 degrees. Under their influence, weak sodium ions in the glass are replaced by stronger potassium ions, which increases the strength of the product. Thanks to the strengthened molecular bonds provided by chemical hardening, Gorilla Glass' hardness on the Moss scale reaches 6 points (out of 10, the hardness of steel is about 5).

The thickness of Gorilla Glass was about 1 mm, while the impact resistance was up to 3 times greater than that of conventional tempered glass. For 2007 (when the thinnest smartphones were thicker than 10 mm) this was a normal figure. But soon the thickness of the device began to decrease, and there was a lot of extra millimeters.

Gorilla Glass 2

In January 2012, the company introduced the second generation of tempered Gorilla Glass. By that time, Corning's development had already been used in more than 200 million smartphones around the world. The new version of Gorilla Glass has become 20% thinner, while increasing its strength by up to 4 times. Engineers have improved the technique of saturating workpieces with potassium ions, ensuring their deeper penetration. This made it possible to make the layer saturated with them thicker.

Gorilla Glass 3

To make Gorilla Glass 3, released in January 2013, more durable, the developers have improved the technology. According to the manufacturer's statements and tests, it can withstand loads greater than sapphire crystal. Native Damage Resistance technology made it possible, with the same thickness, to increase strength by 3 times (compared to the second generation). Scratch resistance has increased by 40%, and impact resistance has become 50% higher.

Gorilla Glass 4

In the new generation of glass, shown in November 2014, the manufacturer managed to reduce the thickness by 2 times, bringing it to 0.4 mm. Other characteristics (strength, resistance to impacts and scratches), however, remained at the level of its predecessor. The goal of the new glass is to reduce the thickness of mobile devices without compromising their protection. According to the creators, it is 2 times stronger than coatings made using competing technologies.

Alternatives to Gorilla Glass

Competing companies are not standing still and are developing alternative coatings for screens that have increased durability. One of them is sapphire glass, created by the synthesis of this mineral. It is highly resistant to scratches (only diamond and some synthetic substances can leave a mark), but it is more fragile and also expensive.

The Japanese company Asahi, specializing in the development of new brands of glass, has also succeeded in this field. In 2011, it released Dragontrail, a more affordable alternative to Gorilla Glass. It is slightly inferior to its competitor in terms of strength properties, but is 6 times superior to ordinary glass. Due to its low price, Dragontrail is in demand among Chinese manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Lenovo, Meizu. Even Sony equips their Z series flagships with it.

In Germany, Schott is developing a competitor to Gorilla Glass. Their development, Xensation Cover, also claims to be one of the most durable types of glass. Its presentation took place in 2012. As of 2016, the most famous manufacturer using Xensation Cover is the Chinese company Meizu. Glass is used in new budget smartphones of the M3 series.

Crash test of Gorilla Glass 4 in a smartphone

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In short, what is Gorilla Glass? It is chemically tempered glass produced by Corning. It is three times stronger than glass that has been subjected to soda-lime chemical treatment. Particular strength is achieved mainly due to the replacement of sodium ions with potassium ions. In other words, Gorilla Glass is considered a glass with increased resistance to impacts and minor damage, which has found wide application in the production of mobile device displays.

If we dive a little into history, we note that Corning has long been setting itself the goal of producing especially durable glass. In particular, the first attempts and first experiments of Corning specialists go back to the middle of the 20th century, when the first timid steps were taken to treat glass with various chemical elements. At that time, in the bowels of the company this project was called “Project Muscle”, however, after some time it was discontinued.

Interestingly, we owe the resumption of experiments on creating especially durable glass to Steve Jobs. The story goes that in 2006, when Apple was working on its first iPhone, the company discovered that the prototype smartphone's display was very vulnerable to scratches and minor damage when it came into contact with small metal objects, such as a set of keys in a pocket. It was then that Steve Jobs, who then served as CEO of the Cupertino company, contacted the head of Corning, Wendell Weeks (apparently, they were friends) and suggested that the latter resume the abandoned project to develop durable glass. And the very next year, 2007, the first sample of a modified Gorilla Glass called Chemcor was installed on the iPhone. Since then, Corning has been associated with its proprietary development with the epic name Gorilla Glass.

It should be noted that the first samples of Gorilla Glass, corresponding to those developed specifically for the iPhone, have become much more resistant to metal objects and parts. However, the first glass samples remained practically powerless against yet another enemy for another five long years - simple sand. So, until 2012, the first generation of Gorilla Glass remained virtually unchanged.

Gorilla Glass 2

As part of the annual international event CES 2012, the second generation of Gorilla Glass was announced. In terms of resistance to mechanical damage, practically nothing has changed, but the glass has become more advanced - its thickness has become 20% less than that of the previous generation. In addition, in laboratory testing, the glass could withstand pressure of up to 50 kg without any damage.

According to statistics for 2012, during this year alone, about 600 million mobile devices were equipped with Gorilla Glass protective glass. It is noteworthy that the reduced glass thickness allowed manufacturers to create thinner smartphones. In addition, with reduced glass thickness, the optical performance of the displays was correspondingly improved. In particular, this concerned increasing the brightness of the screen, as well as improving the sensitivity to touch of the touch matrix. Also in 2012, a joint project between Corning and Samsung was introduced, which was called Lotus Glass. This new generation of material cannot be called a separate generation or replacement for Gorilla Glass, since the latter is a protective coating for smartphone screens, while Lotus Glass is used as a substrate for LCD displays.

Gorilla Glass 3 version

A year later - in 2013, at the international event CES-2013, Corning announced the next, third generation of the “gorilla”. As the manufacturer himself positioned it, glass received an “innate” ability to resist various damages. In other words, the third generation has become even stronger than the previous generation, namely three times. This version of glass has been very popular for several years, as it is more affordable in production. For example, the latest new products from Nokia (Nokia X6 and 7 Plus) received Gorilla Glass 3.

Gorilla Glass 4

In 2014, Corning introduced the fourth generation of Gorilla Glass 4, which became even thinner - its stated thickness was only 0.4 mm. In addition, the fourth generation of “gorilla” glass is almost twice as strong as competing aluminosilicate glasses when dropped, remaining without any damage in almost 80% of cases. After all, it’s no secret that the lion’s share of damage to smartphone screens comes from falls. It was this fact that became the main motivation for Corning specialists to create glass that is as resistant to falls as possible.

Gorilla Glass 5 (the most durable glass available today)

And finally, after two years of silence, in July 2016 Corning introduced the next generation of its glass - Gorilla Glass 5. To date, this is the most advanced generation of Corning glass. As you know, the main goal in the development of this generation is to achieve even greater resistance to impacts when dropped. If we compare the fifth generation with its predecessor, Gorilla Glass 5 has become four times more resistant to falls.

According to the manufacturer, Gorilla Glass 5 can remain intact when dropped from a height of up to 1.6 meters. Nevertheless, in order not to be dogmatic, one should take into account the angle of incidence, the surface, as well as the presence of various factors, especially since almost everything can be broken if desired. This version of tempered glass is used, for example, in the flagship smartphone Nokia 8 Sirocco.

Corning Gorilla Glass - you've probably heard this name mentioned somewhere when talking about smartphone screens. Although the durability of modern displays is increasing every year, our devices are still quite vulnerable to shocks and scratches. Plastic screens were replaced by glass ones - thin, smooth, pleasant to the touch. Along with this transition, equipment manufacturers faced a new problem: what to do with durability? After all, with the slightest impact, the display becomes covered with a network of small cracks, and sharp fragments strive to dig into your fingers. And then simple glass was replaced by extra-strong tempered material.

Gorilla Glass

As for Gorilla Glass, its manufacturing technology belongs to the American company Corning Glass Company. It was first used in the iPhone and then became the choice of all major electronics manufacturers. Gorilla Glass has several generations, each of which is thinner, harder and lighter than the previous one. Thus, Gorilla Glass 5 is several times more shock-resistant than Gorilla Glass 3. Tests show that 80% of falls do not cause any damage to such glass. Strength is achieved by treating the glass with chemical compounds containing the manufacturer's secret formula and additional coating. According to the Mohs mineralogical scale, the hardness of Gorilla Glass reaches 6-7 points. This means that it is harder than quartz and is capable of scratching ordinary non-tempered glass.

Dragontrail glass

Dragontrail comes from Japan, the patent for its production belongs to Asahi. Initially, Dragontrail was superior to its American competitor in terms of hardness and impact resistance, but subsequently lost ground somewhat. Its strength is also achieved through special chemical treatment, and its advantages include lightness and relatively low cost. Thanks to this, it is widely used in the automotive industry and in the manufacture of mid-priced electronic equipment. According to the Mohs scale, this type of glass has the same level as Gorilla Glass - 6-7 points.

Dinorex safety glass

Few people know that Gorilla Glass and Dragontrail have an analogue - Dinorex glass from the Japanese manufacturer Nippon. But this product has not yet gone beyond the Japanese market, although it is widely used in the construction, automotive and household sectors within the country.
Sapphire glass is not a natural gemstone at all. This is a material of artificial origin, synthesized in the laboratory from aluminum oxide under high temperature and pressure. The resulting material is cut into pieces of the required size and polished. Sapphire glass is harder than Gorilla Glass and Dragontrail, but is heavier and allows less light to pass through. Sapphire glass has recently begun to be used as displays. Before this, it had been successfully used in watchmaking for decades. On the Mohs scale it is awarded 8-9 points, which is an extremely good indicator.

Tempered glass

Tempered glass, or bulletproof glass, is a kind of protective film that sticks to the display and gives it extra strength. Bulletproof glass consists of several layers and is subjected to heat treatment during the manufacturing process. Manufacturers claim that it is the strongest glass on the market for similar products, but in fact it has the same level of strength as Gorilla Glass.

Don't expect durable glass to give your device 100% protection. It will, of course, in many cases prevent cracks from impact and protect your fingers from being cut by splinters, but over time it loses its properties and gradually becomes more and more brittle.