In brief: Corning has introduced a new version of its popular cover glass that is its most scratch resistant and optically advanced to date, and it is debuting on Samsung's latest flagship smartphone.
Gorilla Armor is described as a different kind of cover material. Compared to your run-of-the-mill glass surface, Gorilla Armor reduces reflections by 75 percent to boost readability in nearly any environment. Pitted against competitive aluminosilicate cover glasses, Gorilla Armor was shown to be more than four times more scratch resistant in tests designed to replicate micro scratches caused by daily use.
Corning's big break in mobile came when Apple reached out to the company to develop a durable cover glass for the first-gen iPhone. The company had experimented with chemically strengthened glass in the 1960s through a project called Chemcor, but ultimately shelved it as there was no market for hardened glass at the time.
Corning has continued to evolve its hardened glass products over the years, and now works with most major device makers as a supplier of cover glass. In fact, Corning's partnership with Samsung reaches back more than five decades when the two first worked together in 1973 to make televisions more accessible to shoppers in Korea.
Earlier versions of Corning's glass focused on drop protection. Lately, however, we have seen its attention shift to improving optical clarity and scratch resistance like with Gorilla Armor. Screen protectors and cases are still used by millions as an added layer of protection – insurance against life's accidents, if you will – but quality cover glass and sturdier overall designs still serve as the first line of defense for many.
Lab tests are one thing, but we will ultimately reserve judgement until torture testers like Zack from Jerry Rig Everything get a chance to put them to the real test.
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra with Corning Gorilla Armor is available to pre-order now and launches on January 31 starting at $1,299. No word yet on what other devices are scheduled to get Gorilla Armor.