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Apple/screen shot by Brooke Crothers/CNET
Apple is getting ready to use sapphire display cover glass on the rumored next-generation 4.7-inch iPhone. At least that’s what a bevy of videos claims.
Sonny Dickson, a source of past Apple rumors, was one of the first to post a video showing a 4.7-inch flexible sapphire crystal display cover glass. Others, like Marques Brownlee, followed suit.
Brownlee went so far to claim that, “this isn’t a mockup. This is an actual, straight-off-the-assembly-line iPhone 6 part from Apple.”
Brownlee proceeds to give the display a torture test of sorts by trying to scratch it and chip it with a knife, with apparently no scratches or damage to the display. He then bends and flexes the display (see the 3:30 mark) saying, “there is absolutely no way I can break this display under my own power.”
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Of course, this all requires a leap of faith to take both Dickson’s and Brownlee’s assertions as true about it being an Apple part and it being sapphire. Brownlee does inject a hint of skepticism about half way through the video saying, “assuming this is sapphire.”
One of the questions that observers have raised is whether Apple would risk using its first sapphire display cover on a high-volume product with a relatively large display, like the rumored 4.7-inch iPhone 6. To date, Apple has used sapphire only on parts with small surface areas like the iPhone 5S home button and camera lens.
Moreover, a string of rumors to date have claimed that Apple’s lower-volume (and pricier) 5.5-inch device would get the sapphire display cover.
If true, however, Apple would undoubtedly make this a major selling point of any future Apple phone.
