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After months of speculation and disclosure, Apple finally officially released the iPhone 12 at 1:00 AM on October 14th, Beijing time. In addition to the appearance of the iPhone 4, it returns to the classics and also uses Corning’s latest super-ceramic glass panel. According to official publicity, the drop resistance of the iPhone 12 with a super-ceramic glass panel is four times that of the previous generation, which is also a major leap forward for the iPhone in this function.
Here, you may ask, what is a super-ceramic glass panel? What's the difference from the previous US innovation company Akhan Semiconductor's use of the hard characteristics of diamond to develop a diamond glass? Why doesn't iPhone 12 use diamond glass?
First of all, let everyone understand what is a super-ceramic glass panel from the technical principle!
Generally speaking, there are two types of anti-fall glass or tempered glass. One is the most common tempered glass, which is mostly used for car and train window glass. It is forged from ordinary glass at high temperature. The characteristic of tempered glass is stronger explosion-proof, even if it explodes, the sharp surface of common glass will not appear.
Another type of tempered glass is the chemically strengthened glass that is frequently used in mobile phone panels. This is also the characteristic of Corning's multi-generation Gorilla Glass. The density and strength of ordinary glass can be improved very well after penetration or replacement of ions. Asahi Glass, Board Glass, and Central Glass are currently the most common replacement ions, but this time the iPhone 12 has one more process.
Nano-scale porcelain crystal
By introducing nano-scale porcelain crystals (should be oxides, such as zirconia, alumina, etc.) that are harder than most metals, it can be integrated with glass. Compared with traditional chemically strengthened glass, the biggest advantage is the crack adhesion, that is, even if it is dropped, the adhesion of the oxide itself to the glass will greatly reduce the broken surface of the entire glass, thereby reducing the entire broken Area of ​​broken surface.
The principle sounds simple, but because the porcelain itself is not transparent, the actual processing is extremely difficult. Through a special process formula, the crystal type and crystallinity are controlled to reflect the hardness of the porcelain as much as possible, while maintaining the optical permeability of the material.
In addition to being strong, the super-ceramic glass panel is also scratch-resistant. Using the same dual ion exchange process as the glass backplane, the panel is strengthened to resist scratches and scratches and resist daily wear. It is these technological breakthroughs that have made this super-ceramic panel very suitable for use on the display.
As for whether there is any official claim that the ability to resist falling has quadrupled, it still needs to wait for the market (hand) market (disability) test.
Take Akhan Semiconductor’s diamond glass as an example, which is made of nano-diamond materials manufactured in the laboratory. It can be coated on plastic polymer sheets or on untreated flexible glass sheets. Akhan said that diamond glass is very hard and fully foldable, making it possible to manufacture ultra-light, ultra-thin, and ultra-hard screens for foldable devices.
Adam Khan, founder and CEO of Akhan, said: "Nanodiamonds are actually semi-flexible. We can coat them on flexible glass. This coating does not affect the foldability of the glass. The original The feedback from equipment manufacturers is very positive."
In addition to being extremely hard, this kind of diamond crystal will not show the unsightly creases on the Galaxy Fold and Motorola Razr screens.
Adam said that Miraj diamond glass can also be covered on the bottom of a foldable phone, so that manufacturers do not need to use metal inside the phone to support the ultra-thin screen.
At the same time, diamond glass also has water and oil resistance. At the same time, it can maintain heat dissipation and keep the phone at a lower temperature, thereby extending the battery life of the phone using this material.
In fact, this kind of nano-diamond material manufactured by the laboratory is called diamond-like carbon film, and its English name is Diamond Like Carbon (DLC). DLC is an amorphous carbon material that can exhibit the typical characteristics of diamond.
After adding such a coating to smart phones, watches and other equipment, the hardness of the glass can be increased to a hardness comparable to that of sapphire glass, reaching 9 Mohs hardness, which is 20 times higher than ordinary glass in scratch resistance.
At present, Huami officially brought the diamond-like carbon coating process to the screens of Amazfit GTR 2 and Amazfit GTS 2 smart watches.
As for iPhone12, why not use diamond-like thin film glass? The most important factor is cost. Mobile phone screens are much larger than watch screens. As the size increases, the cost of diamond-like carbon thin-film glass is rising geometrically. With the iPhone 12 billion in sales, the cost is huge. Apple, which is pursuing high profits, will not sacrifice profits in a short time and use diamond-coated glass. What's more, this year is also beautifully called in order to protect (the original), all iPhone 12 series do not come with headphones and chargers!
Another aspect is related to the screen display effect. According to the official website data, the peak brightness of iPhone12 is up to 1200 nits and the color contrast ratio is 2000000:1. The diamond-like thin film glass produced by the current process cannot meet Apple's high standards in terms of light transmittance and other aspects.
How to increase the strength of the screen and make it less fragile is still a problem faced by many manufacturers. As Apple, Huami and other manufacturers have made breakthroughs in screen enhancement, I believe they will also drive more manufacturers to invest in the research and development of screen protection technology. Perhaps in the near future, diamond-like carbon film glass is becoming more and more common in our lives. Whether it is a mobile phone screen or a smart watch screen, it can be dropped and scratched without fear.