Corning Gorilla Glass 2 Announced at CES: 20 Percent Thinner and Stronger [VIDEO]

Corning has officially announced their latest Gorilla Glass 2 at CES. The glass is now 20 percent thinner and comes in at 0.8 millimetres, and is much stronger than before, along with its scratch resistant qualities. Corning Gorilla Glass is the world’s most deployed cover glass, and this latest iteration will result in thinner devices, brighter displays and improved touch sensitivity.

Check out the following hands on demo video of the glass in action taken by The Verge at CES 2012:

The Story of Corning Glass, Steve Jobs, and the Original iPhone

Corning Gorilla Glass first debuted in 2007 on the original iPhone (announced 5 years ago yesterday), as confirmed in the Steve Jobs biography. John Seeley Brown was Jobs’ friend and on the Corning Glass board. He recommended Jobs talk to the company’s CEO, Wendell Weeks about what he could offer.

Weeks flew into Cupertino and told Steve about a 1960s chemical exchange process the company called “gorilla glass” that was super strong, but never found a market so the company ditched the project. Jobs doubted the product and proceeded to lecture Weeks on how glass was made, notes biographer Walter Isaacson:

This amused Weeks, who of course knew more than Jobs about that topic. “Can you shut up,” Weeks interjected, “and let me teach you some science?” Jobs was taken aback and fell silent. Weeks went to the whiteboard and gave a tutorial on the chemistry, which involved an ion-exchange process that produced a compression layer on the surface of the glass. This turned Jobs around, and he said he wanted as much gorilla glass as Corning could make within six months. “We don’t have that capacity,” Weeks replied. “None of our plants make the glass now.”

Jobs busted out his reality distortion field and told Weeks “don’t be afraid” and “yes, you can do it…get your mind around it. You can do it.” Weeks explained to Isaacson Corning was able to produce the glass in under six months:

“We produced a glass that had never been made.” Corning’s facility in Harrisburg Kentucky, which had been making LCD displays was converted almost overnight to make gorilla glass full-time. “We put our best scientists and engineers on it, and we just made it work.”

Corning Glass is reported to have been deployed on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, according to iFixit tear downs but a definite answer is uncertain. One thing that is certain is Apple and Steve Jobs helped supply a healthy market for their Gorilla Glass.

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