Corning announced its new Vibrant Gorilla Glass, which can contain colorful printed images to help companies decorate their devices.
Glass that contains printed images isn't anything new, as numerous companies have already been able to do this for years. Corning's Vibrant Gorilla Glass has an edge over the competition, however, as it designed to be extremely durable, just like Corning's other Gorilla Glass products. The company didn't state exactly how it compares to its other products in terms of durability, though, so we can't say for sure exactly how resistant Vibrant Gorilla Glass will be to scratching or breaking.
Corning also boasted that its Vibrant Gorilla Glass will produce sharper and higher-resolution images, and that it will be able to produce this new glass faster and with less waste than competing screen printing technologies.
“Device manufacturers today are looking for new ways to differentiate their products, without compromising important features such as durability and clarity,” said Scott Forester, director, Gorilla Glass Innovations. “Vibrant Corning Gorilla Glass provides a new opportunity for customized decoration and commercial branding.”
Although the idea of having an image permanently emblazoned on your smartphone or laptop screen may sound unappealing or like a waste of space, most of these devices have a fair amount of empty space around the edges of display that are often left blank. It doesn't necessarily look unattractive this way, but it is rather bland, and an image printed on the glass can gives companies the chance to improve the overall aesthetics of their devices.
Corning's Vibrant Gorilla Glass is now in production, so we can probably expect to see devices using it to start showing up sometimes towards the end of the year.
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