New iPhone to come with tougher synthetic sapphire screen

Apple is reported to be working on new iPhone screens made of synthetic sapphire, which is stronger than glass and more scratch resistant.

The WSJ reports that with the new screen the new iPhone will also get more costly.Sapphire is superior to glass, even Corning's Gorilla Glass material, in several ways. Synthetic sapphire has no color, as it's a single crystal grown to be optically transparent - making it look very similar to glass. But it's also extremely hard - 9 on the Mohs scale - which means better scratch resistance.

TechCrunch has alread reported that Apple is building a manufacturing plant in Arizona that will be used by GT Advanced Technologies to make sapphire crystals for use in its products. Apple currently uses sapphire in its home buttons and camera lens covers, but several details about the material itself and the nature of its deal with GT indicate that it could be expanding its interests in the hard crystalline substance over the next several years.

SquareTrade, which offers warranties for damaged screens, estimates that 11 pc of iPhone owners have devices with broken screens.

Paying more for a tougher screen is like paying for insurance - and perhaps an easier decision than the many repair options available today. Each iPhone comes with a year of hardware coverage. Apple sells an extended warranty called AppleCare that provides coverage for the first two years of ownership. (The typical phone subsidized by a U.S. carrier comes with a two-year contract.) For iPhones, the extended warranty costs $99 upfront, and then $79 per screen repair, with a max of two incidents.