Corning Inc. unveils Gorilla Glass 4

Corning Inc. on Thursday introduced Gorilla Glass 4 which, according to the company, is up to two times tougher than any competitive cover glass design in the market.

For consumers, that means less worry about breaking their screen if they drop their smartphone or tablet that uses the cover glass, the Twin Tiers largest employer said.

Corning scientists examined hundreds of broken devices and found that damage caused by sharp contact accounted for more than 70 percent of field failures, the company stated. The scientists developed new drop-test methods and found Gorilla Glass 4 survives up to 80 percent of the time when dropped while soda-lime glass breaks nearly every time.

"Corning Gorilla Glass has outperformed competing materials, such as soda-lime glass and other strengthened glass, since it was introduced in 2007, and we're always innovating to push the limits of what glass can do," James R. Steiner, senior vice president and general manager, Corning Specialty Materials, stated.

"With Gorilla Glass 4, we have focused on significantly improving protection against sharp contact damage, which is the primary reason that mobile devices break. Dropping and breaking a phone is a common problem, and one that our customers have asked us to help address."