Sapphire Material News, Resources & Links to Additional Information

sapphire versus "sapphire" testing video -- tissot sapphire watch, htc ultra sapphire phone, and zagg sapphiredefense protective screen

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvlYOOLmxgw

Key Topics Include:

Scratch tests
The Mohs Scale of material hardness
The superior scratch resistance performance of solid sapphire over "hybrid glass infused with sapphire crystals"

January 2017 Announcement by HTC of a new phone with sapphire cover glass

Link: http://www.htc.com/sea/smartphones/htc-u-ultra/

Key Topics Include:

Sapphire cover glass
Sapphire phones
Premium materials for mobile devices

Educational Video by ubreakIfix: the science of a broken screen

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX7Mpn7nFHk

This is a 3-minute video on the science of broken glass phone screens. In particular, from the 1:48 mark to the 2:30 mark of the video there is a good explanation of why glass screens break in the real world: a "major factor we found is glass quality. Glass is only as strong as its flaws and these flaws often take the form of scratches and chips through normal wear and tear. But this can also be tied to the impact surface. When dropping a device face-down on a rough surface, such as concrete, the impact can create the necessary flaw to serve as a stress concentrator and, milliseconds later, the crack origin. To demonstrate the effect of surface and glass quality, we dropped several untouched phones face-down onto a pristine glass surface from over 6 feet. This height nearly always breaks the surface glass on concrete. It wasn't until we dropped a scratched display that we succeeded in breaking one."

This is exactly the point on why real-world testing conditions are important. Pristine surfaces don't typically exist in the real world and glass displays can be scratched by common materials and surfaces like concrete, sand and asphalt. As soon as they're scratched, glass screens become significantly weaker. It's no surprise, then, that broken glass screens are a widespread problem. See the FAQ page of this site for more on the topic of real-world tests of glass vs. sapphire.

Research by Battery University on battery life versus temperature: "Discharging at High and Low Temperatures"

Link: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/discharging_at_high_and_low_temperatures

Key Topics Include:

Effects of high temperatures on battery life and cycles
Thermal management

Key Excerpt from the article:

"All batteries achieve optimum service life if used at 20°C (68°F) or slightly below. If, for example, a battery operates at 30°C (86°F) instead of a more moderate lower room temperature, the cycle life is reduced by 20 percent. At 40°C (104°F), the loss jumps to a whopping 40 percent, and if charged and discharged at 45°C (113°F), the cycle life is only half of what can be expected if used at 20°C (68°F). "
Note: The article below from EETimes reports that phone operating temperatures can exceed 40°C. As stated throughout this site, sapphire offers significant thermal management advantages over glass for phones and other mobile devices.