Coming to a smartphone near you: Gorilla Glass Victus claims to resist two-metre drops

If you’ve used a smartphone, you’ve encountered Gorilla Glass at some point. Made by Corning (who you might remember advertising kitchenware on TV if you’re of a certain age), the glass is of varying grades and toughness. But, just because it’s glass, don’t go thinking there’s no room for movement in the innovation department.

To victory!

There’s a new type of glass in town and rather than taking on a numerical value, Corning has given this glass a name. Meet Gorilla Glass Victus, a title that Corning would prefer us to stick a ™ or an ® to — but whatever, they didn’t pay for this.

The video above gives you an overview of the glass and why it’s better than anything else on a smartphone.  The ability to survive a two-metre drop is a strong selling point, if we’re going to be fair. All but the lengthiest of basketball players will have uncracked screens, if Vitus has its way.

You can get all the details, as well as a look out how they test varying type of glass (using something called the Slapper, which has a Mini and a Mega version) in the video above (and the tweet below). There are also a few scratch and pressure tests that’ll set your teeth on edge. Quite why they employed the guy who does musical interludes for surf movies to do the soundtrack is anyone’s guess but that’s fine. We’re not here for the music.

Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus should prove about twice as tough as the glass it’s replacing — that’d be Gorilla Glass 6. It’ll turn up first on Samsung handsets, though specifics and timelines haven’t been mentioned yet. Odds are good that Samsung’s August event will see the first time that Victus ventures out into the world. After that, expect to see it absolutely everywhere.