Corning late Tuesday said it had started producing its next-generation tough glass for mobile devices. Lotus Glass has better tolerance for heat and size than earlier technology, making it an ideal fit for future smartphone and tablet displays. The screen is built with next-generation LTPS (low-temperature poly-silicon) LCDs and OLEDs in mind, where higher resolutions and faster refresh rates could put extra wear on previous glass.
That same tolerance also helps during the manufacturing process and would let companies merge more elements with the glass, like touch layers and the displays themselves, without worrying about bending the screen. Lotus Glass still reportedly keeps clarity and sharpness.
The new glass is in production, although Corning hasn’t named its customers. Motorola’s Droid RAZR and a number of others use Gorilla Glass. Apple also uses Gorilla Glass on the front of the iPhone 4 and 4S and may want to use Lotus Glass for 2012 devices
