Apple iPhone glass supplier Corning: Folded glass will be available in a few years

Tencent Securities March 6th, according to wired reported on its website, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone glass supplier Corning (NYSE: GLW) is working on the development of a new folding glass, previously Apple Competitors have launched folding phones made of plastic. Corning then confirmed to the US financial media CNBC that the company is indeed developing folding glass products.

Corning’s move suggests that Apple may be ambitious to create a more durable folding phone than the plastic polymer phones recently released by Samsung and Huawei. Wall Street investment bank Bank of America Merrill Lynch made a prediction in March 2018 that Apple may launch a foldable iPhone smartphone in 2020, and pointed out that the company has already developed this device in cooperation with its Asian partners

So far, the folding mobile phone market has not been tested, and the price of such mobile phones is also very high. Among them, the Samsung Galaxy Fold folding phone is priced at US$1,800, and the Huawei Mate X is priced at US$2,600. But according to the Wall Street Journal, mobile phone manufacturers are still racing to showcase their versions of folding phones. There are reports that Motorola plans to re-launch its iconic Razr phone as a foldable device.

“The truth is, when you touch the nail (plastic display), it scratches the screen. The life of this display is very short; from the day you turn on the phone, it starts to die.” Motorola’s DanDery, vice president of global products, said in an interview with Engadget.

In May 2017, Apple has committed to provide Corning with $200 million in funding to support the latter in research and development, capital equipment purchases and glass processing. The investment shows that Apple hopes that future handsets, including foldable phones, will be as durable as the Gorilla Glass currently used on iPhones.