When it comes to tempered glass that protects smartphone screens, Corning is the company that everyone knows about.
Its Gorilla Glass technology has helped protect phones since the days of the first iPhone. Now, just months after Gorilla Armor technology appeared on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Corning is back to establish its leadership position with Gorilla Glass 7i. The material is designed to bring a number of high-performance improvements to cheaper devices.
Corning Gorilla Glass 7i offers extreme drop resistance.
According to Corning, Gorilla Glass 7i focuses on improving drop and scratch resistance performance "for the mid-range smartphone market and the budget segment." Like other smartphone manufacturers targeting this segment, Corning is looking to address the same goal with its glass. The name even suggests as much, with the number 7 representing Corning's 7th generation of Gorilla Glass. With Victus's level of excellence over the past few years, this is really good news for lower segment users.
Talking about Gorilla Glass 7i, this glass is more durable than lithium aluminosilicate glass from competitors, allowing it to withstand heights of up to 1 meter on rough surfaces, twice as high as competitors' panels. It does so using thinner panels than Gorilla Glass 5, which survives drops from higher heights but at the cost of using a thicker glass.
The technology will be available on mid-range smartphones later this year.
Despite the reliance on older materials like Gorilla Glass 3 for low-cost phones, Corrning clearly sees an opportunity for low-cost and mid-range devices to use better glass without spending too much money. . According to the company's Vice President and General Manager David Velasquez, durability and protection remain top priorities for the glass technology manufacturer, regardless of the price of the final device.
With any luck, OEMs will soon start using newer, better glass for their devices. In fact, the first device to come with Gorilla Glass 7i will be an unspecified phone from Oppo that the company plans to launch later this year.
