The Era of Sandpaper Screen Tests: A New Standard for Smartphone Durability

When it comes to assessing the durability of smartphone displays, there's been one test that's stood the test of time: the knifeblade scratch test. However, this method has its limitations. With advancements in technology and materials science, we've moved beyond the need for such a blunt instrument. Welcome to the era of sandpaper screen tests, where every smartphone on the market is put to the test using softer metals from your knife or keys.

We're working with two types of sandpaper: garnet and emery. The first, garnet, has a rating of about 7 on the Mohs scale, making it harder than Gorilla Glass but softer than pure Sapphire. The second, emery, has a rating of about 8, indicating it's even harder and more durable. We'll use these sandpapers to assess the durability of two iPhone models: the iPhone 5s and the new iPhone 6.

The iPhone 5s Display: A Test Subject

We start with the iPhone 5s, which features Gorilla Glass 3 on its front display. The home button is made of Sapphire, a material chosen for its scratch resistance and durability. We take the garnet sandpaper to the Gorilla Glass display and immediately see scratches forming. This isn't surprising, as Gorilla Glass 3 is designed to be resistant to scratches but not indestructible. When we apply the same force to the iPhone 6 display with the garnet sandpaper, it also scratches, albeit less severely than the iPhone 5s. However, the sound of scratching and the extent of damage are different between the two models.

The Home Button Conundrum

When we take the garnet sandpaper to the iPhone 5s home button, which is made of pure Sapphire, we're surprised to find that it doesn't scratch at all. The garnet does not penetrate the Sapphire, indicating that the home button is indeed made of this durable material. This result suggests that Apple may have damaged the garnet during manufacturing or handling, as it's harder and more resistant than expected.

The iPhone 6 Display: A New Standard for Durability

Moving on to the new iPhone 6 display, which features a material that's not quite pure Sapphire but still much harder than Gorilla Glass. When we apply the emery sandpaper, which is even harder than Garnet, we see deep scratches forming on the iPhone 5s display almost instantly. However, when we take the same force to the iPhone 6 display with the Emery Sandpaper, it resists scratching and bending much better than the iPhone 5s display did. This indicates that the new material is indeed harder and more durable.

The Patented Sapphire Laminate Process

Recent research has shed light on a patent filed by Apple for a fusion process that creates a sapphire laminate structure. This process involves mechanically modifying the Sapphire structure to reduce the likelihood of chipping or fracturing, resulting in a stronger and more durable material. The resulting Sapphire-Laminate composite achieves both superior hardness and strength due to its multiple planes.

The Future of Smartphone Durability

As we move forward with the new iPhone, it's reassuring to know that it won't require a screen protector to keep it scratch-free. While no material is indestructible, Apple's use of advanced technologies like Sapphire-Laminate will undoubtedly improve the durability and longevity of their devices. The era of sandpaper screen tests has begun, and we're excited to see how these new materials hold up against the toughest challenges.

The Results Speak for Themselves

In conclusion, our test results show that the iPhone 6 display is harder than Gorilla Glass and resists scratching and bending much better. While it's not invincible, this material is a significant improvement over its predecessors. The home button of the iPhone 5s, made of pure Sapphire, still holds up remarkably well against even the softer garnet sandpaper. As we move forward with Apple's next keynote, we'll be eager to hear more about the durability and strength of their new materials.

A Note on Indestructibility

While no material is indestructible, Apple has taken significant steps in improving the durability of their devices. The Sapphire-Laminate process is a testament to their commitment to innovation and quality. However, it's essential to remember that even the most advanced materials can be damaged with enough force or pressure. As we move forward, it'll be exciting to see how these new materials hold up against the toughest challenges and what features Apple will introduce to further enhance the durability of their devices.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey what is up guys mkbhd here and apparently a lot of people care about this iphone 6 sapphire crystal display so in that video that i did about it i went through a couple tests to measure the durability of the panel i bent it a lot i put it under my foot and pulled on it really hard i dragged my keys and my knife across it and then eventually stabbed it pretty hard but i was never able to get it to scratch but here's the thing about scratch tests with knives and keys knives and keys aren't that hard they're i mean they're pretty sharp obviously on the end if i drag it across my own skin it'll hurt a lot but when you compare it to sapphire glass or really any glass for that matter gorilla glass included metal is pretty soft so let me introduce you to the mohs scale it's a scale from 1 to 10 rating mineral hardness so basically how it works is at any rating a mineral can scratch anything below it but cannot scratch anything above it so take quartz for example on that scale it's rated at a seven that means anything above a seven can be used to cut quartz but anything below it won't even make a mark so on the mohs scale my steel knife blade that i use in that video is a 5.5 gorilla glass is already at a 6.8 and pure sapphire which is a form of aluminum oxide is the second hardest naturally occurring material on earth it's at a 9. so by those numbers a steel knife blade no matter how hard i try will never scratch my phone's display gorilla glass or sapphire so let's say goodbye to knifeblade scratch tests this new test is pretty legit welcome to the era of sandpaper screen tests because every smartphone on the market right now should survive the softer metals from your knife or keys so i have two types of sandpaper here the first one is garnet it's a bit softer it's at about a seven on the mohs scale which means it's harder than gorilla glass but softer than pure sapphire and the second is emery it's at about an eight a little higher than eight on the mohs scale so it'll really be able to show we're working with here now keep in mind we already know exactly what we're working with on the front of the iphone 5s it's gorilla glass 3 on the front like in some other phones but the home button that small little part is already sapphire apple chose that part because it's small not too expensive and it can resist scratches better than gorilla glass to keep that touch id fingerprint stuff working even when the phone gets beat up so the new iphone 6 has this entire display made of a new material that we already know can bend really well but sandpaper will show its true hardness so the first piece of garnet sandpaper take it to the gorilla glass of the iphone 5s it immediately scratched a lot and that's expected it's a harder material so this is exactly what should happen picking the same material to the iphone 6 screen with the same force it actually does scratch as well but not quite as much it does resist those scratches a little better and i also noticed it made a very different sound when scratching so we're learning here that already this new display is definitely not pure sapphire because it's already getting scratched by a softer garnet so what's interesting is check out the iphone 5s home button it's still flawless not a single scratch the garnet did not scratch the theoretically much closer to pure sapphire home button which actually means the home button was damaging the garnet okay so moving on to the emery much harder sandpaper taking it to the iphone 5s no real surprise here it basically destroys it puts some really deep scratches all over the panel pretty much instantaneously so that gorilla glass is much softer didn't stand a chance taking it to the iphone 6 display now we of course still get scratching it again made a different sound and it is much more limited so this material is definitely harder it holds up better to the much more tough emery sandpaper but it's definitely not indestructible or invincible and for good measure i actually went back over the pure sapphire of the iphone 5s home button again and it held up still really really well so i'm impressed with the pure sapphire of course it shouldn't scratch because it's harder than the sandpapers we used so what do we learned from all this testing two things number one the iphone 6 display is harder than gorilla glass and will put up to scratching and bending a lot better than the iphone 5s display did and two the iphone 6 display is not pure sapphire like the touch id home button is and that actually makes sense using a massive panel of pure sapphire for the front of a phone would be a little bit stupid it would be first of all much more expensive and it also wouldn't be able to bend like it did believe it or not you actually kind of need your phone to be able to flex a little bit so pure sapphire is still best in smaller parts like the touch id cover over the home button and the glass over the back of the iphone 5s camera a little bit of research shows that apple's actually already patented a fusion process where the sapphire structure may also be mechanically modified to help reduce the likelihood of chipping or fracturing and the resulting sapphire laminate may achieve both superior hardness and strength due to the use of multiple planes basically it's a composite involving sapphire to make it overall a lot stronger than the gorilla glass of the previous iphones or many other phones out there and it works as we saw and i'll have the link to the exact pattern right below the like button if you want to check that out but basically as long as you're not carrying some high quality sandpaper in your pocket you should be good without a screen protector on the next iphone which is really comforting for a lot of people to hear and i'm sure apple will talk a lot i would expect a lot of talk from apple at their next keynote about how strong and indestructible this material is well not really indestructible youhey what is up guys mkbhd here and apparently a lot of people care about this iphone 6 sapphire crystal display so in that video that i did about it i went through a couple tests to measure the durability of the panel i bent it a lot i put it under my foot and pulled on it really hard i dragged my keys and my knife across it and then eventually stabbed it pretty hard but i was never able to get it to scratch but here's the thing about scratch tests with knives and keys knives and keys aren't that hard they're i mean they're pretty sharp obviously on the end if i drag it across my own skin it'll hurt a lot but when you compare it to sapphire glass or really any glass for that matter gorilla glass included metal is pretty soft so let me introduce you to the mohs scale it's a scale from 1 to 10 rating mineral hardness so basically how it works is at any rating a mineral can scratch anything below it but cannot scratch anything above it so take quartz for example on that scale it's rated at a seven that means anything above a seven can be used to cut quartz but anything below it won't even make a mark so on the mohs scale my steel knife blade that i use in that video is a 5.5 gorilla glass is already at a 6.8 and pure sapphire which is a form of aluminum oxide is the second hardest naturally occurring material on earth it's at a 9. so by those numbers a steel knife blade no matter how hard i try will never scratch my phone's display gorilla glass or sapphire so let's say goodbye to knifeblade scratch tests this new test is pretty legit welcome to the era of sandpaper screen tests because every smartphone on the market right now should survive the softer metals from your knife or keys so i have two types of sandpaper here the first one is garnet it's a bit softer it's at about a seven on the mohs scale which means it's harder than gorilla glass but softer than pure sapphire and the second is emery it's at about an eight a little higher than eight on the mohs scale so it'll really be able to show we're working with here now keep in mind we already know exactly what we're working with on the front of the iphone 5s it's gorilla glass 3 on the front like in some other phones but the home button that small little part is already sapphire apple chose that part because it's small not too expensive and it can resist scratches better than gorilla glass to keep that touch id fingerprint stuff working even when the phone gets beat up so the new iphone 6 has this entire display made of a new material that we already know can bend really well but sandpaper will show its true hardness so the first piece of garnet sandpaper take it to the gorilla glass of the iphone 5s it immediately scratched a lot and that's expected it's a harder material so this is exactly what should happen picking the same material to the iphone 6 screen with the same force it actually does scratch as well but not quite as much it does resist those scratches a little better and i also noticed it made a very different sound when scratching so we're learning here that already this new display is definitely not pure sapphire because it's already getting scratched by a softer garnet so what's interesting is check out the iphone 5s home button it's still flawless not a single scratch the garnet did not scratch the theoretically much closer to pure sapphire home button which actually means the home button was damaging the garnet okay so moving on to the emery much harder sandpaper taking it to the iphone 5s no real surprise here it basically destroys it puts some really deep scratches all over the panel pretty much instantaneously so that gorilla glass is much softer didn't stand a chance taking it to the iphone 6 display now we of course still get scratching it again made a different sound and it is much more limited so this material is definitely harder it holds up better to the much more tough emery sandpaper but it's definitely not indestructible or invincible and for good measure i actually went back over the pure sapphire of the iphone 5s home button again and it held up still really really well so i'm impressed with the pure sapphire of course it shouldn't scratch because it's harder than the sandpapers we used so what do we learned from all this testing two things number one the iphone 6 display is harder than gorilla glass and will put up to scratching and bending a lot better than the iphone 5s display did and two the iphone 6 display is not pure sapphire like the touch id home button is and that actually makes sense using a massive panel of pure sapphire for the front of a phone would be a little bit stupid it would be first of all much more expensive and it also wouldn't be able to bend like it did believe it or not you actually kind of need your phone to be able to flex a little bit so pure sapphire is still best in smaller parts like the touch id cover over the home button and the glass over the back of the iphone 5s camera a little bit of research shows that apple's actually already patented a fusion process where the sapphire structure may also be mechanically modified to help reduce the likelihood of chipping or fracturing and the resulting sapphire laminate may achieve both superior hardness and strength due to the use of multiple planes basically it's a composite involving sapphire to make it overall a lot stronger than the gorilla glass of the previous iphones or many other phones out there and it works as we saw and i'll have the link to the exact pattern right below the like button if you want to check that out but basically as long as you're not carrying some high quality sandpaper in your pocket you should be good without a screen protector on the next iphone which is really comforting for a lot of people to hear and i'm sure apple will talk a lot i would expect a lot of talk from apple at their next keynote about how strong and indestructible this material is well not really indestructible you\n"