Optics

Flexible glass could bring back the flip phone

March 30, 2016

(Figure. Researchers at Corning make 40-50 new experimental glass formulations every day. Courtesy Corning)

Imagine a flip phone that fits in your pocket but opens up to reveal a tablet-sized screen. Glassmakers are already manufacturing bendable glass that’s thinner than a human hair, and they say foldable glass is just around the corner.

German glassmaker Schott is now mass-manufacturing glass that’s ultrathin, strong, and smooth. Electronics can be made on it, and it flexes like plastic. The first consumer product to use Schott’s new glass is the fingerprint sensor on a smartphone made by LeTV, a large video-streaming company in China. Company representatives hope that this and other niche applications will give the new material a foothold while industrial designers play around with it.

Read the full story at MIT Technology Review.

Conard Holton

Corning's Gorilla glass, famous on iPhones, is not the only glass for mobile devices. Although Apple decided not to use sapphire glass on iPhones in 2014, resulting in the bankruptcy of GT Advanced Technologies, other glass makers continue the quest for the perfect glass for the mobile market--which means glass that is thin, strong, and flexible. This article from MIT Technology surveys some of the work underway by Corning and Schott.

About the Author

Conard Holton | Editor at Large

Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.