Corning's Gorilla Glass 5 Can Survive Drops From Up to 1.6 Metres

Corning, the popular glassmaker for mobile devices, on Wednesday unveiled Gorilla Glass 5 for flagship devices. The company said that the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 in its internal lab tests survived up to 80 percent of the time when dropped face-down from up to 1.6 metres. Corning claimed that the new glass was tested on all type of surfaces including rough ones. Corning Gorilla Glass 5 is now commercially available and is expected to be seen on devices later this year.

The company claimed that it is the leader in cover glass industry and said that over 4.5 billion devices used Corning Gorilla Glass worldwide including more than 1,800 product models across 40 major brands. Notably, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 has been unveiled almost two years after the launch of its predecessor, Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

The glassmaker stressed that Gorilla Glass 5 has been designed keeping in mind consumers' top issue - screen breakage. Apart from breakage, Corning says that Gorilla Glass 5 will offer cover glass that's suitable for touching, typing, and swiping the content.

Corning, citing a study based on Toluna's Quicksurvey panel, claimed that over 85 percent of smartphone users drop their phones at least once year while 55 percent drop it three times or more. The study also said that over 60 percent smartphone users reported dropping their mobile devices between shoulder and waist height. The study was based on numbers noted on an average of an 11-country study of global smartphone users and included countries such as the US, Brazil, France, Germany, and India among others.

Announcing the new Gorilla Glass 5, John Bayne, Vice President and General Manager, Corning Gorilla Glass, said, "With each successive generation of Corning Gorilla Glass, we have taken cover glass technology to new levels. Gorilla Glass 5 is no exception, extending Corning's advantage in drop performance over competitive glasses. With many real-world drops occurring from between waist and shoulder height, we knew improving drop performance would be an important and necessary advancement."