Apple iPhone supplier Corning is developing flexible glass for foldable phones

One of the biggest challenges of foldable phones is screen durability. Samsung’s Galaxy Fold and Huawei’s Mate X look crazy futuristic, but they have plastic screens that aren’t as scratch-resistant as the glass displays on regular phones. 

That’s no good and will be a big step backwards for durability. However, a new bendable glass from Corning Inc., makers of the scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass found on the back and front of many phones including iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones, might be the solution to the problem.

In a recent interview with Wired, Corning senior vice president and general manager John Bayne says the plastic polymers used in these new foldable devices is better suited for repeated bending, but they’re not as durable as glass.

But making glass that bends and doesn’t crack or shatter with repeated folding is tricky. Even more challenging is making foldable glass that plays nice with the many touchscreen transistors that it needs to interface.

Bayne told Wired tat Corning is working on an “ultrathin, bendable glass that’s 0.1 millimeters thick and can bend to a 5 millimeter radius.”

Corning is making progress, but there’s still a long way to go. “The back of the problem we’re trying to break, the technical challenge, is, can you keep those tight 3- to 5-millimeter bend radii and also increase the damage resistance of the glass,” Bayne said.

The glass maker is also experimenting with combining its super bendable Willow Glass with its really durable Gorilla Glass. However, a breakthrough that allows for a combined bendable glass to be suitable for foldable phones is still a work in progress.

 “We have glasses we’ve sampled to customers, and they’re functional, but they’re not quite meeting all the requirements,” Bayne said. “People either want better performance against a drop event or a tighter bend radius. We can give them one or the other; the key is to give them both.”

Which begs the question, who has Corning sent these samples to? No doubt all kinds of companies, especially phone makers who are working on their own foldable devices. 

Notably, chatter suggests Apple could be one of the companies that are looking into the foldable glass tech. Apple’s reportedly working on its own foldable devices (who isn’t?) and has even filed for a patent related to them.

Exciting as an iPhone that folds open into an iPad would be, let’s also reel in expectations. Just because Samsung and Huawei and a handful of other Chinese phone makers are are working on foldable phones doesn’t mean Apple will follow suit.

If that were the case, Apple would have released MacBooks with touchscreens years ago, mimicking Windows and Chromebooks, which have them. Same for an Apple Watch with a round display. Ditto for an iPhone without a notch, but with a “hole punch” or motorized camera mechanism.

Apple is rarely first to embrace a new technology and usually chooses to wait until many of the early issues are resolved. Foldable phones are unproven. From the crease, to the thickness, to the software, to the price, they’re just not ready yet. Samsung and Huawei are jumping the gun with foldable phones to likely curtail plateauing phone sales. Apple will likely wait it out. 

If Corning or another company figures out how to make foldable glass that meets Apple’s tight design tolerances, maybe (and that’s a big maybe) we might see a foldable iPhone in a few years. But I wouldn’t bet on it happening.