Apple has officially announced its 2020 flagship iPhones: the $999 iPhone 12 Pro and $1,099 12 Pro Max, featuring support for 5G and a new squared-off design that’s reminiscent of the iPhone 4.
The company highlighted the “ceramic shield” protection on the gadgets. It’s basically Apple’s equivalent to the Gorilla Glass Victus used by Samsung.
The glass-ceramic material was created by Corning, in collaboration with Apple, and consists of nano ceramic crystals embedded in the glass matrix. It’s highly transparent and the tough structure formed by the crystals means it’s less likely to break.
Corning’s new material is the world’s first transparent and color-free glass-ceramic, which provides optical performance suitable for use as a cover material for smartphones.
“We invented a new-to-the-world material — a glass-ceramic — that combines the best properties of both ceramics and glass to deliver unparalleled performance on smartphones.”
It’s “tougher than any smartphone glass,” according to Apple, and “makes iPhone more durable than ever,” with four times better drop performance — aka, it’s less likely to crack if (when) you drop it.
