Corning’s Gorilla Glass is a household name in displays, smartphone and smartwatch touchscreens made with its proprietary material with a reputation for being highly resistant to cracks and scratches. Gorilla Glass still regularly competes with Ceramic Shield when it comes to smartphone protection. While this material is very good at withstanding the rigors of daily life, including an occasional brush with your car keys, it is unfortunately not invulnerable, which has caused some manufacturers to stop using Gorilla Glass. Corning’s product has a critical weakness compared to fine-particle minerals like quartz, which also happens to be one of the most common minerals in the world.
Gorilla Glass is incredibly hard, there’s no doubt about it. Thanks to the chemical exchange process necessary to create it, it is more resistant to drops and scratches than conventional glass. Even so, any material harder than this enhanced glass can still scratch it, and such materials can show up in innocuous places like your own pockets. You can protect your screen with some defensive measures like a screen protector and regular dusting, but the threat cannot be completely eliminated.
Sand or dust in your pocket could leave scratches
Objects, minerals and materials can have their hardness classified based on a scientific scale known as the Mohs scale. Your nails, for example, have a Mohs rating of around 2.5, not particularly hard, while a diamond has a Mohs rating of 10, bordering on scratch-proof. Gorilla Glass has a Mohs rating of around 6, which is above average and stronger than metals used in coins or small pocket knives. This is why if you try to scratch a Gorilla Glass screen with something like your car keys, it doesn’t work; because the metal your keys are made of is softer than Gorilla Glass. Gorilla Glass’s particular level of hardness gives it a good degree of overall surface resilience, while still leaving it flexible enough to withstand occasional sudden drops.
However, one particular mineral that ranks higher than Gorilla Glass on the Mohs scale is quartz, with a rating of 7. Quartz is literally found everywhere, from dust to sand, both of which tend to accumulate in your pockets. Because quartz is stronger than Gorilla Glass, even in fine particle form, it is strong enough to scratch the glass surface. Since the particles are so small, the scratches are very fine, but if you constantly take your phone out of a pocket full of dust, you risk scratching the screen surface every time, and these scratches gradually start to build up.
There are some safety measures you can take
Since one of Gorilla Glass’s most critical weaknesses is also one of the most abundant minerals in the world, you may feel like there’s nothing you can do to protect your screen from scratches. However, you can still take some protective measures.
First and foremost, use a screen protector. While it’s assumed that screen protectors aren’t necessary for Gorilla Glass displays given their claimed hardness, their weakness to quartz arguably necessitates them even more. A good screen protector can absorb most of the scratches and scrapes from daily use, including micro-scratches from dust or sand in your pocket. Additionally, a screen protector can be replaced easily and inexpensively if it becomes too scratched, instead of letting your screen suffer the damage.
Additionally, whenever possible, you should try to keep your Gorilla Glass phone away from dusty or sandy environments. Clean sand from your pockets, wipe dust from desks and nightstands, and don’t put your phone screen down, especially on a sandy beach table.
