Barely one week after murmors appeared online suggesting Apple was working on digital SLR-quality camera technology for the next iPhone, a new rumour has surfaced suggesting the company may still be planning to use sapphire glass in the iPhone 6s or iPhone 7 - or whichever name it decides to go with when it launches a successor to the iPhone 6 next Autumn.
The rumour, which comes courtesy of Focus Taiwan, suggests manufacturer Foxconn is urgently building a new display factory purely for handling Apple's iPhone orders. The company has apparently signed a deal with the Zhengzhou city government in Henan Province, China, to develop a 133-hectare factory - right next to an existing iPhone 6 assembly factory. The report also suggests the factory will be producing sapphire displays.
Last year several high-profile leaks showed what an iPhone with a sapphire display would be able to resist, with front panels sourced directly from the factory filmed being scratched with keys and even knives to no ill effect. Of course, Apple decided against using sapphire for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the end, using ion strengthened glass because it was cheaper and easier to manufacture.
Although Apple will never admit it, and Corning is signed to secrecy, it's fairly common knowledge that the toghened glass manufacturer has produced smartphone display panels for almost every iPhone to date. Corning recently unveilled the fourth iteration of its Gorilla Glass technology, which is built to better withstand accidental drops (one of the major causes of shattered or broken smartphone screens) and would seem ideally placed to appear in the next iPhone, so right now we're deeply suspicious of any claims suggesting Apple will be switching to sapphire so soon. It's previous venture with GT Advanced Technologies folded after the manufacturer was unable to make enough sapphire glass to meet Apple's demands
Of course knowing Apple we'll have to rely on leaks and rumours right up until the launch of the new handset, as it keeps its in-development products strictly under wraps. Don't expect to hear anything concrete until at least next year, and in the meantime chalk this one up to the rumour mill.
