Gorilla Glass 5 will survive a fall from shoulder-height, claims Corning

Corning has been the trusted partner of most smartphone manufacturers for years now. The Gorilla Glass is now available on more than 4.5 billion devices all around the world, protecting them from scratches, drops, and even oil smudges.

Today, Corning has announced that it is working on the fifth generation of the Gorilla Glass that will be significantly more durable than the current generation of Corning’s toughened glass. According to Corning, the Gorilla Glass 5 will be able to withstand drops from approximately 1.6 m (equivalent to shoulder height) more than 80% of the time. This means that the phone’s display can even survive a slip from your fingers when you’re taking a selfie. Corning says that this is specifically for the butterfingers of selfie addicts.

Moreover, it has been noted that such a high survival rate can only be achieved if the toughened glass is 0.6 mm thick. This is a significant increase from Gorilla Glass’ current thickness of 0.4 mm. Corning’s general manager John Bayne says that “phones that have glass protruding above the device’s bezel would be more susceptible to damage than those with glass fully protected by a bezel.” This is because the damage to your phone’s screens depends mainly on the angle at which the device hits the surface.

Finally, Corning has announced that Gorilla Glass 5 is now commercially available and it will arrive on devices that are released later this year.