CES 2012: Gorilla Glass 2 Will Change The Face Of Mobile Devices And TVs

Corning’s Gorilla Glass, the tough surface that protects the delicate screens on most tablets, smartphones and many laptops, is being improved and will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week.

Gorilla Glass 2 will be 20 percent thinner and lighter than its predecessor and more touch sensitive. The new product will allow displays to have smaller bezels, or perhaps no bezels at all, which will change the look of devices. For example, tablets will have a smaller “border” around the screen and larger monitors could have no bezel at all.

Thinner, brighter, lighter

The glass requirement of smartphones and tablets has been a determinant of the size. The thickness requires a bezel to protect the edges of the glass from being chipped. If the new glass can truly eliminate the bezel, or reduce it, by being thinner, it will make a small contribution to reducing the overall thickness and weight of the devices. The thinner glass will also enable brighter displays.
“As we did last year, we’ll provide consumers and customers visiting the Corning booth the opportunity to test first-hand the outstanding damage resistance and flexibility of this industry-leading, ultra-thin, and tough specialty glass,” said James Steiner, senior vice president and general manager of Corning Specialty Materials.

The upgraded glass will even be demonstrated working as a speaker. This has been a technology known for some time but the thinner Gorilla glass allows it to vibrate better to create sound waves.

There is a rumour circulating that Corning will also announce the use of the glass in Apple’s upcoming television which is expected to feature a touch screen and tablet-like interface. This will be in the wake of recent Bravia touch screen televisions from Sony.

Also in this area, the company will be displaying even bigger screens with the unveiling of an 82-inch (2m) LCD using Gorilla Glass. Corning will also be exhibiting Lotus Glass which was launched last October for high resolution, low-power consumption  LCD and OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screens.