Last month we speculated that Samsung would ship its new phones (to be announced on the 11th of August) sporting Corning’s Gorilla Glass, which is a bit of a staple when it comes to high-end smartphones these days. Well, we were right, but we missed a detail: Corning is making some brand-spanking-new glass just for camera lenses, and Samsung will be the first to get its hands on it.
Corning’s camera-ready
So, for those of you who don’t know, Corning technically doesn’t make glass-glass. Like the kind you’d use to make windows. Gorilla Glass is a “scratch-resistant and durable glass composite”, which is perfect for our increasingly slippery smartphones.
Corning has announced two new additions to the Gorilla Glass line: Gorilla Glass with DX and Gorilla Glass with DX+. Now, to get a great photo, phones need to minimise reflections within their camera systems. Problem is, most anti-reflective coatings used for this scratch really easily. So while your reflection problem is solved, you still might inevitably end up with a shoddy camera.
Gorilla Glass DX and DX+ composites, according to Corning Gorilla Glass VP and GM Jaymin Amin, “…not only provide mobile device camera lens covers with enhanced scratch resistance and durability compared to traditional coatings, but also the improved optical performance required for these devices.”
Amin goes on to say that the DX and DX+ lens covers capture 98% of light for a camera lens, which apparently bolsters the camera’s own performance and assists in capturing high-quality snapshots fit for your holiday trip slideshow. And Samsung will be the first smartphone manufacturer making use of the DX composite on its cameras, though which upcoming devices we see sporting it remains to be seen.
The DX+ version appears to still be up for grabs though, so if you have any more money to spend on Corning, Apple, you might want to try to get a foot in the door.