Your next phone might be a lot harder to scratch and crack thanks to Corning's new Gorilla Glass Victus, which can withstand a two-meter drop. And it could come to the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
Gorilla Glass is pretty much a standard for any phones that promise to weather bumps and drops well, with the latest Gorilla Glass 6 found in the likes of the OnePlus 8 Pro. But it has mostly prioritised resisting damage from drops rather than scratches. Victus aims to bulk up the scratch resistance of Gorilla Glass, as well as improve its damage resistance to drops without any trade-offs.
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As such, not only can Gorilla Glass Victus survive a tumble from a height of two meters in lab tests, it will also have a chemical composition that will make it more resistant to deep scratches that can all but ruin a phone’s display. So much so that it can apparently resist a scratch test that applies an 8 Newton load to the glass; Corning said the threshold for scratching sits between 7 and 10 Newtons. For reference, competitive Aluminosilicate based glass scratches at a 4 Newton load.
“Dropped phones can result in broken phones, but as we developed better glasses, phones survived more drops but also showed more visible scratches, which can impact the usability of devices,” explained John Bayne, a senior vice president and general manager at Corning. “Instead of our historic approach of asking our technologists to focus on a single goal — making the glass better for either drop or scratch — we asked them to focus on improving both drop and scratch, and they delivered with Gorilla Glass Victus.”
A focus on scratch resistance would be very much appreciated, as we recently noticed a scratch in our Galaxy Note 10 Plus — which has Gorilla Glass 6 — that’s deep enough to be felt. Speaking of which, Gorilla Glass Victus is set to come to Samsung phones in the “near future”, Corning said.
With that in mind, we’d not be surprised if the upcoming Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is the first phone to get it. Rumors have pointed towards the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 phone getting upgraded 7th generation Gorilla Glass, which is what Gorilla Glass Victus appears to be.
However, a recent leak has the standard Galaxy Note 20 tipped to have a plastic back. So it’s more likely the new Gorilla Glass is going to debut on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with its front and back glass panels.
The Galaxy Note 20 is set to launch August 5. And with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra expected to have a 120Hz refresh rate and use an LTPO display to dynamically adjust the refresh rate, Gorilla Glass Victus could be just the ticket to avoid damage to such a screen.
