Apple's new “head of design” tells behind-the-scenes creation of iPhone screen glass

In the novelty that Corning one of Apple's longtime partners. It was she who created the glass which, since 2007, equips the iPhones. But it could have been different.

In the video below, Jeff Williams (Apple's COO and future design team manager after Jony Ive's departure) tells a very interesting story about Corning's creation of glass and how it changed the industry as a whole.

The episode itself is not new we have already commented on the story of Corning's creation of this glass. But the video (from 2017, when Apple invested $ 200 million in Corning and even so this “ceremony” took place at Corning's factory) is nonetheless interesting, as it shows how things could have been if Steve Jobs hadn't led to your stubbornness to the extreme.

This is because, as COO said, in the original iPhone presentation (at WWDC 2007) the device did not have a glass screen. The idea was to launch the product with a plastic screen exactly the same as the iPods of the time. The problem is that on iPods the display took up only a small space in front of the device; Already on the iPhone, the proposal was completely different and the device was basically a screen remember that before 2007, the phones were completely different and that the arrival of the iPhone with a 3.5 inch screen (without a physical keyboard) was unimaginable. !

After the remarkable keynote from WWDC 2007, when the late former CEO revealed the iPhone to audience delight and disbelief from competitors (like RIM), he revealed to his team that everything on the iPhone was working as it should, but one thing It was bothering him: the plastic screen was getting scratched after some time in his pocket (along with other things like keys).

Williams then said that they had tested all the material and that in 3-4 years it would probably be possible to use some glass on the screen but at the moment the solution was really plastic and there was not much to do.

Jobs, of course, didn't like that and said that the iPhone would have to be sold with a glass screen. And yes, the original iPhone, which would hit stores shortly after that discussion! It was that kind of pressure (which for some was what set Apple apart, and for others it was an inhumane demand from a CEO little concerned about his subordinates' mental health) that Jobs alone could create and make happen.

Weeks / months later, there was the iPhone with a completely new glass developed by Corning, ushering in a sleepy market that today is largely dominated by the American company that supplies Gorilla Glass to several manufacturers.

via the loop