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Comment by twodayslate | Hacker News Reader

I was looking forward to that sapphire screen. Oh well.

Everybody that pumped-up the $GTAT stock in anticipation of sapphire seemed to me to be forgetting that Apple is not ambitious with new technology. 3G, LTE, NFC, etc. To me, I couldn't understand why Apple would put themselves in a position where a small, young company like GTAT could cause delays in an iPhone release.

Why? From what I understand, sapphire is more brittle than Gorilla Glass (although supposedly scratches can contribute to the likelihood of cracks), so what I think for most people the common breakage case is quite possibly not any better. Additionally, sapphire is more reflective than glass which is problematic all in itself.

Apple reserving sapphire screens for watches makes perfect sense to me.

If that is true, why does it make sense on the watch even?

Because watches are bound around your wrist, thus making them much less likely to be dropped (and they're much lighter if they are dropped) - scratching is the big concern with watches. I believe many (most?) high-end non-smart watches already use sapphire instead of glass for that reason.

You're less likely to drop a watch (the band), and more likely to scratch it (brushing up against stuff).

That's my guess anyways.

I thought it was interesting that the "Watch Sport" actually comes with the glass display. Which seems like they put some thought into it?

That definitely makes sense then, if sapphire is more scratch resistant

Looks like it's the Apple Watch that has the sapphire screen?

That's correct.

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