Corning’s bendable Gorilla Glass glass could shape the foldable phones of the future

“Corning’s glass has been shielding gadgets for longer than any of us have been alive,” Vanessa Hand Orellana reports for CNET. “The company started out in the middle of the 19th century developing heat-resistant glass for lanterns and lightbulbs, moved on to TV tubes in the 20th century and now covers many of the phone screens we use on a daily basis. ”
“But to fit each mold, Corning’s glass has had to evolve almost as much as the technology it covers. It’s become heat-resistant, scratch-resistant and increasingly tough to shatter,” Orellana reports. “And it may soon shape the next generation of foldable displays by pushing the limits on how much glass can bend.”
“We took a trip to Corning’s headquarters in its eponymous hometown — Corning, New York — to find out what the makers of Gorilla Glass are cooking up next and what clues it can tell us about future devices,” Orellana reports. “‘To go to a tight bend radius, you have to go to a glass that’s much, much thinner than what you have today and some of the glass we have in our laboratory is thinner than a human hair,’ says Polly Chu, technology director at Corning. I was able to hold the glass in my hands, and I had a hard time believing it was a sheet of glass and not a piece of thin plastic.”
Check out many other cool types of glass and glass implementations that they’re working on at Corning – and see the photos – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Glass certainly has a bright future as it sounds like the headroom for innovation at Corning is very high indeed.
Don’t be afraid. You can do this. — Steve Jobs to Corning CEO Wendell Weeks during the production of the original iPhone in 2007
We especially like the textured glass that looks and feels like wood and can hide icons when off. Imagine disappearing and reappearing controls in vehicles, TV remotes, and more!
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