Gorilla Glass 5 will make next gen smartphones significantly more drop resistant

While it will not help prevent those pesky tiny scratches that develop over time on smartphone displays, it seems that Corning is working to make the glass more impact resistant.

In a recent press release by Corning Corning Unveils Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 , they are now producing their next version of gorilla glass, and expect to start seeing smartphones which utilize it later in the year.

The gorilla glass 5 does not improve the scratch resistance, As with the past 3 versions, anything with a Mohs hardness scale rating of a 6 or higher. The most common source of those tiny scratches, are tiny specs of sand; it is pretty much everywhere, and some particles make their way into your pockets, which then rub against the screen as you move around.

Gorilla glass5 is rated for face down drops from up to 1.6 meters (5.2 feet), though this assumes a flat surface where the force will not be focused on a tiny point.

CNET did a short video showing a few tests with the glass, though the only one that will be useful, is the drop test, all of the other tests, make use of mainly static pressure tests which it has always been good with.

Overall, the takeaway from their new iteration  of gorilla glass is:

• The drop resistance has been increased from a little over 2 feet onto a flat surface, to a little over 5 feet onto a flat surface.
• It is not nay more scratch resistant than previous models, thus a screen protector is still important (it scratches from anything with a hardness of 6 or higher, and the most common source of scratches, has a hardness of around 7).
• May become standard on next gen phones later this year, especially with the norm now being to have the screen sit flush with the rest of the body of the phone.