In today's article, we will try to explore the differences between Gorilla Glass screens and its main competitors.
Modern mobile phones have a screen with tempered glass to protect them from cracks and scratches. Depending on the company there are three main glasses technologies. Gorilla Glass, Dragontrail Glass and Ceramic Shield, but then there are two others, less famous, Sapphire Glass and Tempered Glass.
Gorilla is usually found on Android phones and tablets and since 2007 when it was first released, it has changed 7 versions. The last one is Gorilla Armor.
On the other hand there are Dragontrail Glass, Sapphire Glass, Apple's Ceramic Shield, and Tempered Glass. But how do they differ from each other? And which is the best?
Table of Contents
Brief historical presentation
Gorilla Glass is manufactured by US company Corning and the technology first gained prominence as the protective glass on the original iPhone. Since then it has been available on smartphones and tablets from various manufacturers.
In fact, there's a very good chance that the phone you're reading this on has Gorilla Glass.
Dragontrail Glass emerged as the alternative to Gorilla Glass, which manufactured by the Japanese company AGC (Asahi Glass Co). The technology has been around since the early 2010s and is often used in low-budget devices.
Ceramic Shield is another solution, manufactured by Corning but exclusively for Apple's iPhone line. It debuted in Apple's iPhone 12 series in 2020 and has been around ever since.
Sapphire Glass has been around since the mid-2010s, but the fragile nature of the material means it's rarely used for smartphone displays. We have seen this more in expensive watches.
Finally, Tempered Glass is the cheapest tempered glass solution. So if your Android phone doesn't have Gorilla Glass, Dragontrail Glass or Sapphire Glass, it will at least have this technology.
Gorilla Glass
The first generation of Gorilla Glass was released in 2007, followed by Gorilla Glass 2 in 2012 and Gorilla Glass 3 in 2013. Gorilla Glass Victus 2020 and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 2022 are found in many flagship phones today.
However, the Gorilla Armor is the latest and greatest solution on the market right now. This new solution debuted on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Gorilla versions are as follows:
- Gorilla Glass (2007)
- Gorilla Glass 2 (2012)
- Gorilla Glass 3 (2013)
- Gorilla Glass 4 (2014)
- Gorilla Glass 5 (2016)
- Gorilla Glass 6 (2018)
- Gorilla Glass Victory (2020)
- Gorilla Glass Victus 2 (2022)
- Gorilla Armor (2024)
The basic manufacturing process is the same for each generation, and uses an "ion exchange process". According to its manufacturer, the Corning company, this is essentially a strengthening process where the glass is placed in a bath of molten salt at a temperature of 400 degrees Celsius.
The potassium ions in the bath create a "compressive stress layer" on the glass, essentially giving it added strength.
Gorilla Glass Victus is designed to withstand drops of up to two meters, while also offering twice the scratch resistance of its predecessor, Gorilla Glass 6.
The next model, the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 maintains the same two-meter drop resistance and scratch resistance performance. However, Corning says the new glass is capable of withstanding drops of up to one meter onto concrete (something the Victus doesn't rate for at all).
The company also said that the Victus 2 has been designed with today's bulkier phones in mind, claiming that today's devices are 15% heavier and have 10% larger screens compared to four years ago.
Corning has not reported specific drop heights for Gorilla Armor, but claimed to perform up to three times better in drop tests in its laboratory than competing aluminosilicate glass solutions.
The company also said that scratch resistance was four times better than previous solutions.
However, the biggest reason to get a phone with Gorilla Armor is the reduced reflectivity. Corning says you can expect reflectivity to be reduced by up to 75%.
Dragontrail Glass
Manufactured by Japanese giant AGC, Dragontrail is the second most popular brand among manufacturers.
The company uses a so-called float process to create its glass, sending liquid glass over a furnace of molten tin. Then before the glass cools particles are added to strengthen it. In the end it goes for cutting.
Dragontrail Glass comes in a few variants, with the Dragontrail, Dragontrail X and Dragontrail Pro being the most prominent solutions. The 2016 Dragontrail Pro provided 30% better drop resistance in corners thanks to the rounded glass edge. AGC added that it also withstands more bending than standard Dragontrail.
Dragontrail Star 2 is its latest tempered glass. This glass is used in recent phones such as the OnePlus 11R and OPPO Reno 9 series.
Dragontrail Glass vs Gorilla Glass
YouTuber JerryRigEverything try out the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, which offers Gorilla Glass Victus. He began scratching the screen with graded pins and eventually found that the glass began to be scratched by the pin rated six on the Mohs scale. This should also apply to the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 due to its similar level of scratch resistance.
Accordingly, a Corning representative had told us that all glasses scratch between five and six on the Mohs scale. So it looks like Gorilla Glass and Dragontrail Glass should perform equally well when it comes to everyday scratch resistance.
This is also reflected in the Vickers hardness scale, with Victus 2 advertising Vickers hardness between 595 and 670, while AGC's Star 2 glass is rated between 570 and 640.
As for bending or impact? There is no comparison than just a 2013 video from Corning, showing Gorilla Glass 2 and 3 doing better than an unnamed competitor's product (probably Dragontrail).
AGC has not disclosed specific impact resistance heights for Dragontrail Glass either. Instead, the company only says that the Dragontrail Pro has 30% better durability than the previous generation.
Meanwhile, the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 advertises two-meter drop resistance. Corning also claims that "competing aluminosilicate glasses from other manufacturers" typically fail when dropped from half a meter or less.
Tempered Glass
The cheapest solution is Tempered Glass, as this is the material of choice for many third-party screen protectors.
According to Scientific American, Tempered Glass is first cut to the correct size and then heated in a hardening oven. The glass is heated to a little over 600 degrees Celsius, followed by a cold air “paint” for a few seconds (painting is called in metallurgy the sudden temperature change).
The process makes the outer surface of the glass colder than the inner, which creates compression on the outside and uplift on the inside, giving us stronger glass.
Tempered Glass vs Gorilla Glass
All glass solutions have similar levels of scratch resistance, including Tempered Glass. Therefore, you should have peace of mind in any case when it comes to scratches.
Drops are another story though, as Gorilla Glass and Dragontrail Glass are typically built to survive longer drops than Tempered Glass.
If you don't have Gorilla Glass or Dragontrail Glass on your phone, then you should put a protective glass on your screen.
Sapphire glass
Sapphire is the most expensive option on this list, meaning it's mostly limited to smaller devices like camera lenses and watch faces (including some Apple Watch models).
But we also saw it in HTC coming out in 2017, a version of the U Ultra phone with a Sapphire Glass display.
According to a 2014 Pocketnow video, Sapphire screens are made by placing a piece of sapphire at the bottom of a barrel. This barrel is then filled with concentrate corundum and remnants of crystallized sapphire from previous batches. The barrel is then placed in an oven, which heats the materials to 2.200 degrees Celsius.
The process takes 16 to 17 days and results in a single 115kg piece of Sapphire. From here, a small piece is cut for the smartphone screen, then polished and further cut to the correct dimensions.
Sapphire Glass vs Gorilla Glass
When it comes to scratch resistance, Sapphire Glass is king. Sapphire measures nine on the Mohs hardness scale (higher is harder), just one step below diamonds.
According to a video by UBreakIFix, can withstand abrasion with materials at the same level. Meanwhile, Gorilla Glass, Dragontrail Glass and Tempered Glass are scratched with materials at level six on the Mohs scale. So expect devices with Sapphire Glass to hold up better in your purse or tight pocket.
However, this impressive scratch resistance comes at a price. Sapphire glass is known to shatter very easily compared to rival glasses. UBreakIFix's previous video shows that Gorilla Glass can bend much more before shattering compared to Sapphire Glass.
This result consistent with the test Corning's "toughness after abrasion damage". In it the company drops glass sheets of both types into a barrel filled with various objects and spins them for 45 minutes.
The sheets are then removed and subjected to a load test. Corning claims that the Sapphire Glass sheet broke after a 73kg load was applied, while theirs withstood over 195kg of force.
ceramic shield
Another tempered glass that has made waves in recent years is the Ceramic Shield, seen on iPhones from the iPhone 12 series onwards. However, this is not a product of Apple or some upstart company, as it is also manufactured by the manufacturer of Gorilla Glass, Corning.
Ceramic Shield goes through the usual ion exchange process done with Gorilla Glass, but also undergoes a high-temperature process to add ceramic nanocrystals, which are smaller than the wavelength of light, making it appear just as transparent as normal glass.
Overall, this process results in better protection against cracking and breaking into small pieces.
Ceramic Shield vs Gorilla Glass
Corning claims that Ceramic Shield glass is tougher than any smartphone glass available today, suggesting that it is indeed better than the Gorilla Glass line.
In fact, Apple claims that the Ceramic Shield is four times tougher than previous iPhones when it comes to drops.
What does Corning itself say about Ceramic Shield vs. Gorilla Glass? Well, nothing. The company has not made specific comparisons between the new iPhone glass and the latest Victus glass solutions.
However, one video of JerryRigEverything shows that the iPhone 14 screen begins to scratch at level six on the Mohs hardness scale, the same as Gorilla Glass. Although it appears that the initial scratches are comparatively quite faint.
summarizing
Scratches
At this point, all major tempered glasses are fairly scratch resistant. Dragontrail and Gorilla Glass seem to be close in terms of features when it comes to everyday use (though Corning's solutions probably have the edge in the toughest situations), while Tempered Glass doesn't seem to be too far behind. Sapphire has an edge in all three solutions, but costs much more.
Falls
In the bend and crash tests things get much murkier. There don't seem to be many references and a step-by-step comparison between the latest Gorilla Glass and Dragontrail solutions. Only one thing is certain: Sapphire is relatively prone to bending and dropping.
Ceramic Shield seems to be one of the best glass solutions on the market, at least if you trust Corning and Apple. However, the lack of direct comparisons makes it difficult to verify these claims, and you can't get this display on an Android phone anyway.
