SAN JOSE, California -- Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S24 Ultra can withstand a drop on a concrete surface thanks to an exclusive high-strength glass known as Corning Gorilla Armor, which was developed with Corning for greater durability and visual clarity, according to the global glass maker.
With live demonstrations of the new screen glass, John Bayne, the senior vice president and general manager in charge of mobile consumer electronics at Corning, presented the Corning Gorilla Armor, which has been featured in the latest Galaxy S24 Ultra.
"Typically, Corning would focus on the impacts of a drop when it develops new glass products for strength, (as well as on the) cover glass that protects the phone, as it is the No. 1 consumer pain point," Bayne said in a press conference held on the sidelines of the Galaxy Unpacked 2024 event in San Jose, California, on Wednesday.
"But with Corning Gorilla Armor, the company focused on three things at once. Durability against dropping on the floor, surface scratches, and improving optical reflection," Bayne said.
According to the Corning executive, Corning Gorilla Armor survived more rigorous tests than rival glasses. For example, the glass was dropped from three times higher and not only endured the impact but showed four times fewer scratches when compared to competitors' products. At the same time, the glass's light reflection has also been reduced to improve visual clarity.
At the press conference, Corning carried out live demonstrations of slapper and scratch tests.
Corning Gorilla Armor passed the slapper test, where it was slapped on sandpaper. The competitors' glass shattered immediately. The test was designed to simulate how a user would drop a smartphone on a concrete floor from waist height.
The Corning product also showed no visible scratches in the test done by the Scratch Bot, which replicated micro scratches caused by day-to-day wear.
According to Bayne, the force exerted on the smartphone screen when the user wipes clean the phone or puts it in the pocket is between 1 to 1.5 kilograms. So while the competitor’s glasses would be scratched from those daily actions, the Gorilla Armor would be resistant to up to 4 kilograms of force exerted on it, the senior vice president explained.
Galaxy S24 Ultra users will also see the optical benefit of the new glass right from when they take out the smartphone from the box, which has reduced the reflection rate for enhanced display readability.
“When the smartphone (screen is turned off), you’ll see less reflection. (The screen) is a deeper black and you’ll have a better visual experience because it’ll seem brighter and have better contrast with the fewer reflections that interrupt your viewing experience,” Bayne said.
While glass would typically show an average of 4 percent reflection, Corning Gorilla Armor glass has reduced that to less than 1 percent, Bayne explained.
Gorilla Armor contains an average of 25 percent pre-consumer recycled content, as validated by UL Solutions in accordance with UL2809-2 Environmental Claim Validation Procedure for Recycled Content.
The launch of Galaxy S24 Ultra phones with Gorilla Armor follows a celebratory year for Samsung and Corning. Last year marked 50 years of an industry-leading partnership for the companies. Samsung and Corning first partnered in 1973 to make televisions more accessible to consumers in Korea.
With the decadeslong partnership, Samsung has been employing Corning's products in many of its devices, including the Galaxy S23 Series, the Galaxy Z Fold5 and the Galaxy Z Flip5, which all use Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
