Apple and other smartphone makers already try to reduce screen breaks with Corning’s Gorilla Glass. But now it seems Apple’s investment in synthetic sapphire will pay off in time for the launch of the next iPhone and a new smartwatch.
According to The Wall Street Journal’s sources, Apple’s use of sapphire display for the next iPhone and rumored smartwatch could drive up the price of the smartphone. According to Eric Virey, a senior analyst at French research firm Yole Développement, it’ll cost Apple $16 per phone to add a sapphire display. By comparison, the Gorilla Glass screens in today’s iPhones cost an estimated $3 per unit.
Apple already uses synthetic sapphire for its fingerprint reader and to cover the camera lens on the iPhone 5S. According to the WSJ’s report, Apple would use the new sapphire displays in the more-expensive of the two models expected to be announced this fall.
A display that’s less prone to breaking sounds great, but it might cost consumers more money or eat into Apple’s margins. Of course, these figures are from analysts not privy to Apple’s manufacturing cost. So you might want to keep that in mind.
➤ New iPhone: A Sapphire Screen and a Higher Cost [WSJ]
Microsoft’s first Surface Pro 3 ad shows how a tablet can replace your laptop
Microsoft today released the first ad for its new Surface Pro 3 tablet-laptop hybrid . In 30 seconds, the company manages to show off quite a few features, including the pen, the kickstand, detachable keyboard, USB port, and Microsoft Office:
https://www.youtubeom/watch?v=CTo5DfBtWkY
As my colleague Roberto Baldwin put it, “Oh good. It tells you what it does instead of stupid dancing .” This is a good trend. Even the Surface Pro 3 trailer was well done, in our humble opinion.
See also – Surface Pro 3 review: Has Microsoft’s delicate compromise worked this time? and Surface Pro 3 first impressions: Third time’s almost the charm
Lenovo recalls Thinkpad battery packs in US, Canada and China, which pose a fire hazard
Lenovo has started a recall of its ThinkPad notebook computer battery packs as they pose a fire hazard caused by overheating, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced today (via Computerworld ).
About 34,500 battery packs in the US and 2,900 in Canada sold with these Thinkpad computers will be recalled: the Edge 11, 13 and 14 series, the T410, T420, T510 and W510 series, and the X100e, X120e, X200, X201 and X201s series. No injuries have been reported, but Lenovo has received two reports of the battery packs overheating, resulting in damages to the computer and battery pack.
A Xinhua report says that Lenovo is also recalling 117,732 Thinkpad batteries in China — for the Edge11, Edge13, T410, X100e, X201 and X201s series manufactured between October 2010 and April 2011 — according to a General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine statement .
➤ Fire hazard forces Lenovo recall of ThinkPad batteries [Computerworld]
Thumbnail image via Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images