Apple Awards iPhone Glass Supplier Corning Additional $45M From Advanced Manufacturing Fund

Apple today announced it is awarding its longtime iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch glass supplier Corning an additional $45 million from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund, building on its $200 million award in 2017 and $250 million award in 2019.

Apple awards Corning an additional 45 million dollars team member 051021
The combined $495 million investment will support Corning's ongoing research and development into "state-of-the-art glass processes, which led to the creation of Ceramic Shield, a new material that is tougher than any smartphone glass."

Apple COO Jeff Williams:

"Apple and Corning have a long history of working together to accomplish the impossible," said Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer. "From the very first iPhone glass, to the revolutionary Ceramic Shield on the iPhone 12 lineup, our collaboration has changed the landscape of smartphone cover design and durability. Ceramic Shield is a prime example of the technologies that are possible when deep innovation meets the power of American manufacturing. We're so proud to work alongside Corning, whose 170-year-old legacy is a testament to the ingenuity of the US workforce."

With support from Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Fund, experts at both companies worked together to develop a new glass-ceramic, which gets its strength from nano-ceramic crystals, produced in Corning’s plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, the facility where every generation of ‌iPhone‌ glass has been made.

The new material was enabled by a high-temperature crystallization step which forms nano-crystals within the glass matrix. Those specialized crystals are kept small enough that the material is transparent. The resulting material makes up the revolutionary Ceramic Shield, which Apple used to fashion the new front cover featured on iPhone in the iPhone 12 lineup. Prior to Ceramic Shield, embedded crystals have traditionally affected the material's transparency, a crucial factor for the front cover of iPhone because so many features, including the display, the camera, and sensors for Face ID, need optical clarity to function.

Established in 2017, Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Fund was designed to "foster and support the innovative production and high-skill jobs that will help fuel a new era of technology-driven manufacturing" in the United States, according to Apple.

Awards from the $5 billion fund have led to breakthrough innovations, from supporting the development of advanced laser technology in Texas, to accelerating the supply of Covid-19 sample collection kits for US hospitals, and more.

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Top Rated Comments

ilikewhey Avatar
54 months ago
this is good, the more jobs we can keep on the state side and the less outsourcing the better, if only we have a reliable finfet foundry so apple doesn't have to rely on foreign foundries for their most crucial components
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
matrix07 Avatar
54 months ago
A week ago I just dropped my iPhone X (and not only dropped. I hit a mosquito on my hand that holding the phone and my phone flied across me and landed face down on stone pathway with a “bang” sound). My heart stopped. Thought screen would be shattered. Luckily apart from a few scratches on stainless steel rim everything is fine ?.
Needless to say my trust in this company is immense.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iBluetooth Avatar
54 months ago

I remember when 11 came out and it was touted as the best yet

yet having never dropped my phone or had it near keys/coins it developed scratches, how is this possible from just taking it out of pockets?


Can anyone confirm that Ceramic Shield is really different and doesn’t scratch from clothes fibres?
There can be small grains of sand in your pockets, just by inserting things there before. When you move around, the phone is moving slightly also in the pocket and can rub agains a grain of sand or other hard surfaces.
But why are you bothered from a device showing usage. Do you expect your car to be scratch-free even if you didn't have any accidents. I think the scratches show much you use the phone and just embrace them.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NoSoup4U Avatar
54 months ago
Is it too late to get the formula for transparent Aluminum from Scotty?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Serban55 Avatar
54 months ago
good for them
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Digital Dude Avatar
54 months ago

A week ago I just dropped my iPhone X (and not only dropped. I hit a mosquito on my hand that holding the phone and my phone flied across me and landed face down on stone pathway with a “bang” sound). My heart stopped. Thought screen would be shattered. Luckily apart from a few scratches on stainless steel rim everything is fine ?.
Needless to say my trust in this company is immense.
Reminds me of this ('//www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PochL9uL-Y').
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)