Samsung proudly announced that the Galaxy Note 7 is the first smartphone to use Corning's Gorilla Glass 5. More often than not, newer versions of Gorilla Glass are associated with improved scratch and shatter resistance. However, a video from JerryRigEverything showed that the Gorilla Glass 5 panel on the Galaxy Note 7 gets scratched easily, even with a metal pick that is rated 3 on Mohs scale of mineral hardness. Now, Corning has officially responded to the worrying scratch test video.
According to Corning, the scratch test that we see in the video was conducted “in an uncontrolled manner.” Representatives from the company also stated that a pick with a hardness of 3 can't scratch glass panels with a hardness of 5 or 6 (like the Gorilla Glass 5). Then what were those scary scratches on the Galaxy Note 7's display that we saw in that now famous video?
The hardness pick that was used in the video was a 3, that’s considerably softer than the glass material. Oftentimes when you have a softer material like that, and depending on what kind of loads you have used, you tend to see material transfer on the test substrate. Material transfer on the test substrate is not necessarily a scratch but it can appear to the untrained eye as a pretty visible scratch.
– Corning
Corning states that the scratches in the video are nothing but residue from the pick that was settled on to the Gorilla Glass 5 panel. Why didn't the residue get clear even when the tester tried to wipe it off? The Corning representative stated that “It can be very, very difficult to remove metallic material transfer from glass. It is very atypical to see in a field return when we look at scratches of glass, that kind of characteristic, but purely visual, perceived damage that is actually a material on top of the surface.” In any case, we would recommend using a screen protector if you're too worried about your smartphone's screen getting scratched.
