Imagine a phone wrapped in curved glass. If done right this is the next revolution in the industrial design of mobile devices including phones. There is no one better at implementing sleek, new industrial designs than Apple (AAPL).
Apple iPhone 4s came under criticism because its shape and form did not change from iPhone 4. There is much speculation about the look of iPhone 5. As attractive as the innovation of completely encasing a phone in curved glass from front to back, in my opinion this innovation will not likely be there in iPhone 5.
Corning (GLW), the maker of popular Gorilla Glass, has introduced another innovation in the form of a flexible glass that is as thin as paper. Corning calls it Willow Glass.
Willow Glass screen can be as thin as 100 microns. Imagine the enhancement to the sensitivity of touch screens when such a paper thin glass is used. It will give rise to a number of innovative features in mobile devices never seen before.
Willow Glass can be used to completely wrap a device from front to back. This opens up the industrial design to all kinds of shapes and forms that were unthinkable in mobile devices until now.
According to Corning, Willow Glass will support thinner backplanes and color filters for both organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and liquid crystal displays (LCD) in high-performance, portable devices such as smartphones, tablets, and notebook computers. This new, ultra-slim flexible glass will also help develop conformable (curved) displays for immersive viewing or mounting on non-flat surfaces…Read more at Forbes
