Tim Cook confirmed in a recent interview with ABC News' David Muir that Apple was manufacturing sapphire in its Arizona plant, but deflected any questions about how the company planned to use the material. Recent reports suggest the sapphire could land in the iPhone 6 or the iWatch as a display substrate, and a recent patent application lends some credibility to these rumors.
As noted by AppleInsider, the United States Patent and Trademark Office published an Apple patent application titled "Oleophobic coating on sapphire" that describes a method of applying an oil-repelling coating to a sapphire display for use in a mobile or portable electronic device.
The patent details a multi-layer display material with a base sapphire layer, a transition layer that serves to bond the surface layer to the base layer and finally a surface layer with an oleophobic coating.
Various embodiments described herein encompass a component with a substrate having an alumina base layer, a transition layer comprising alumina and silica, and a surface coating that preferentially bonds to the silica. The base layer may comprise a single-crystal sapphire. The transition layer may transition substantially continuously from about 100% alumina at the base layer to include substantial silica content at the surface coating, or to about 100% silica or silica glass at the surface coating.
A surface layer may be formed on the transition layer, with a substantially silica content, for example substantially 100% silica or silica glass, and the surface coating may be oleophobic. A portable electronic device may comprise the coated component, the portable device may include a window, the oleophobic coating may be provided on an exterior surface of the window, and the window may also include a touch screen.
Apple first used an oleophobic coating when it introduced the fingerprint-resistant material with the iPhone 3GS. The material has been used in subsequent products, including the current iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, iPod touch, iPad Air and Retina iPad mini.
Apple last year signed a $578 million deal with materials manufacturer GT Advanced to produce sapphire in a new Mesa, Arizona plant currently under construction. Recent photos of the facility reveal significant building progress as the company moves closer to the plant's target full operational date of June 2014.
Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon.
Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week.
iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you.
Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21.
There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports.
In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28.
The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by Juli Clover
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products.
Here's what's supposedly coming:
An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. iOS 26.2 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE.
The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Macworld claims to have access to an ...
Thursday December 11, 2025 4:19 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple's next-generation Studio Display is expected to arrive early next year, and a new report allegedly provides a couple more details on the external monitor's capabilities.
According to internal Apple code seen by Macworld, the new external display will feature a variable refresh rate capable of up to 120Hz – aka ProMotion – as well as support for HDR content. The current Studio...
Anyone is familiar with this type of coating? I am all for the scratch resistant Sapphire, but if it is coated with something that can be scratched off, it might defeat the purpose. I'd rather have fingerprints than scratches.
As already stated, this is Dumb. Every iphone I have ever had got scratches on the coating. What a waste that would be of sapphire
I don't think you understood what you read. You seem to be combining complaints about scratch resistance with the fingerprint resistance of the oleophobic coating. Two different things.
The oleophobic coating isn't, pedantically speaking, fingerprint resistant. It repellent to the oils in your skin. Apple and other vendors have been using it for years. Heck, if the coating on your phone has diminished, you can buy a coating kit on Amazon. It's nothing new and totally separate from the sapphire aspect.
The scratch resistance is the cool part of the piece. But it's also the most confusing part of the piece. Sapphire is supposed to be the key to higher scratch resistance, but if I read the piece correctly, the sapphire won't be able to affect scratches because it will be layered under a progressively thickening glass layer. Thickening is relative since we are dealing with extremely small thicknesses. 100% sapphire base blended to a top layer of 100% glass. Where does the benefit of sapphire appear when the top layer is basically what we've always had?
Either I read the article incorrectly (it's possible, I'm out of k-cups) or something is wrong with what I read.:confused:
Because Oleophobic coatings on glass is a completely different idea?
I have used phones before with oleophobic claims and the bottom line is they do not prevent fingerprints on screens. The reality is that fingerprints are only an issue when the screen is off because it makes the glass look dirty, but when the screen is on, and unless you have been inhaling Cheetos for a few hours while using your tablet or phone, you are never going to notice fingerprints.
If Apple is patenting how to apply this coating on sapphire then they have a claim, but to claim the "novel" idea of simply using this coating on another type of display surface I do not think will be granted.
Oleophobic is just a marketing gimmick that tries to make people believe that a device with it is better then a device without it, just like sapphire. Apple is the king of patenting marketing myths.
I thought patent applications were about implementation not necessarily invention.
