Apple's Failed Sapphire Glass Supplier GT Advanced Charged With Misleading Investors

The SEC today announced it has charged GT Advanced Technologies and its former CEO Thomas Gutierrez with misleading investors about the company's ability to supply sapphire glass for iPhones. The company is also found to have misclassified more than $300 million in debt to Apple.

gt advanced logo 2
In the fall of 2013, Apple agreed to advance $578 million in four installments to GT in exchange for sapphire glass that met certain technical standards, the SEC says. By late April 2014, GT had failed to meet those standards, resulting in Apple withholding its final $139 million installment and demanding repayment.

On earnings calls in the second quarter of 2014, however, Gutierrez falsely stated that GT expected to hit performance targets and receive the fourth installment payment from Apple by October 2014. GT ended up filing for bankruptcy shortly after, which the SEC says resulted in "significant investor harm."

SEC associate director Anita B. Bandy:

GT and its CEO painted a rosy picture of the company's performance and ability to obtain funding that was paramount to GT's survival while they were aware of information that would have catastrophic consequences for the company. We will continue to hold chief executives accountable when they breach their most fundamental duty to make full and truthful disclosures to investors.

GT later exited bankruptcy and is now privately held.

GT Advanced Technologies was expected to become a major Apple supplier, as it was supposedly able to manufacture extremely thin sheets of sapphire much more cheaply than current methods. For now, Apple continues to source non-sapphire glass from Corning in Kentucky for use in products like the iPhone.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Colors

Apple Announces iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max With New Design, Larger Battery, and More

Tuesday September 9, 2025 10:59 am PDT by
Apple today introduced the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Both devices feature a new aluminum unibody design, with the Ceramic Shield now protecting both the front and back sides. Apple says the front side is now Ceramic Shield 2, which offers 3x better scratch resistance, while the rear Ceramic Shield is advertised as 4x more resistant to cracks compared to the back glass on previous...
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Models Are eSIM-Only in These Countries

Tuesday September 9, 2025 12:23 pm PDT by
Apple continues to phase out the physical SIM card tray on iPhones, with the latest models relying solely on eSIM technology in more countries. The new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max support eSIMs only in these countries and regions, according to Apple: Bahrain Canada Guam Japan Kuwait Mexico Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Un...
airpods translate

AirPods Live Translation Blocked for EU Users With EU Apple Accounts

Thursday September 11, 2025 4:01 am PDT by
Apple's new Live Translation feature for AirPods will be off-limits to millions of European users when it arrives next week, with strict EU regulations likely holding back its rollout. Apple says on its feature availability webpage that "Apple Intelligence: Live Translation with AirPods" won't be available if both the user is physically in the EU and their Apple Account region is in the EU....
iPhone 17 Pro Colors

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro: Release Date and Pre-Orders

Wednesday September 10, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
Apple held its annual iPhone event on Tuesday, September 9, to unveil the iPhone 17, ultra-thin iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. All of the new iPhone models will be available to pre-order starting Friday, September 12 at 5 a.m. Pacific Time / 8 a.m. Eastern Time in the U.S. and dozens of other countries, according to Apple. The release date for the devices is one week...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

Skipping the iPhone 17 Pro? Here's What's Rumored for iPhone 18 Pro

Wednesday September 10, 2025 8:33 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are still a year away, there are already a few rumors about the devices that offer an early look ahead. If you are skipping the iPhone 17 Pro and want to know about what to expect from the iPhone 18 Pro models, we have recapped a few of the key rumors below. Under-Screen Face ID In April 2023, display industry analyst Ross Young shared a...
better iphone 17 lineup

Apple Lists iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 Pro Battery Capacities

Tuesday September 9, 2025 1:25 pm PDT by
Apple has confirmed the battery capacities for the iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max models that were announced earlier today. Apple is required to publish energy labels on its iPhone product pages in the EU, and they reveal the official mAh battery capacities for the devices. Here are the battery capacities for each model, according to Apple: iPhone 17:...
iPhone 17 Pro and Air A19 Pro Feature

iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Benchmarks Reveal Speed of A19 Pro Chip

Wednesday September 10, 2025 7:33 am PDT by
The first benchmark results for the A19 Pro chip in the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air surfaced in the Geekbench 6 database today. Based on these early results — which are unconfirmed — the A19 Pro chip across the Pro models and the iPhone Air appears to deliver up to 13% to 15% faster multi-core CPU performance compared to the A18 Pro chip in the iPhone 16 Pro...

Top Rated Comments

realtuner Avatar
83 months ago
Of course.

People were wrongly blaming Apple, but it was GT Advanced that was over-promising on their capabilities
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
83 months ago
Tell that to Mohs scale, it scratches at the same level as Gorilla Glass which scratches at level 6 so no benefit.

Here's Zacks scratch test

Sapphire is a 9. I’ve had sapphire Apple Watch screens since 2015 and never got a single scratch.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
83 months ago
Tell that to Mohs scale, it scratches at the same level as Gorilla Glass which scratches at level 6 so no benefit.

Here's Zacks scratch test

You do realize the screen on the Max is Gorilla Glass right? It's not sapphire glass. That's why it scratches at a level six like Gorilla Glass... cuz it is.;)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
guerro Avatar
83 months ago
Does anyone know where this company was located? I live in Salem MA and I believe thats where they were but it's been a while so I can not recall.
Mesa, AZ
[doublepost=1556900529][/doublepost]It's now an Apple Data Center
[doublepost=1556900590][/doublepost]
Even if the deal with GT worked out, sapphire iPhone screens wouldn’t have been worth what the price increase would’ve probably been. Yeah they wouldn’t have scratched as easily, but they would be more shatter-prone.
I never looked at their play as screens for iPhones but rather Apple Watch face and camera lens.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sinoka56 Avatar
83 months ago
You do realize the screen on the Max is Gorilla Glass right? It's not sapphire glass. That's why it scratches at a level six like Gorilla Glass... cuz it is.;)
Are you serious?

https://www.apple.com/lae/iphone-xs/specs/

The one I'm saying is the camera lens that Apple indicated in the specs as "Sapphire crystal lens cover"
[doublepost=1556901446][/doublepost]
Sapphire is a 9. I’ve had sapphire Apple Watch screens since 2015 and never got a single scratch.
See this video. Same impure Sapphire that scratches at 6.

Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kaibelf Avatar
83 months ago
Apple deceived the people about it.
They didn’t really put sapphire completely on the lens. It’s a mixture of faux sapphire.
Apple "deceived" people? Wrong. People just read 2 out of 30 words and then complain about how they were "misled." These same people complain every day about how Facebook should not be able to sell their info, yet still want a free service.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)