Apple has received a patent for the cutting and processing of sapphire wafers so that the material can be used in consumer electronics. Sapphires are the second hardest material on earth after diamonds, and Apple is said to be giving serious thought to replacing Gorilla Glass with a sapphire screen. Recently, contract manufacturer Foxconn revealed that it had made 100 prototypes of the next-generation iPhone wearing a sapphire display.
Apple's patent application reveals that it could use sapphire glass as a display for the Apple iPhone
While the hardness of sapphires makes it great for a smartphone screen, it also makes it hard to cut the material. Apple will have to use strong, powerful lasers to cut the sapphire material to its specifications. The patent covers the process by which Apple grows and harvests the material, and polishes them. That also includes the use of lasers to cut them. The wafers are then decorated and cut into windows. Currently, Apple employs sapphire as a camera lens cover on the Apple iPhone 5s and as a protective glass to the TouchID fingerprint sensor on the same phone.
When decorating the polished sapphire wafers, they can be coated with the anti-fingerprint oleophobic covering, or covered with an ink mask for a printed circuit board.
Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.
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