Apple will reportedly have enough sapphire glass for both of its iPhone 6 models as well as the iWatch in 2014, based on the latest supply chain check at the company’s sapphire glass manufacturing partner GT Advanced done by analyst Matt Margolis for Seeking Alpha. “As a result of my most recent supply chain check I believe that the Mesa sapphire operations will have ample supply to cover the iWatch, the 4.7″ iPhone and the 5.5″ iPhone with full sapphire cover glass in 2014. Additionally, the maximum sapphire screen capacity of the Mesa facility is likely to exceed 200m annual units.”
Sapphire glass has been one of those materials that everyone wanted in their smartphones, but very few manufacturers have been able to deliver. This is due to the fact that the manufacturing process and the sapphire itself are rather costly, but the good news is that this year we might get to see the material going more mainstream than ever before. As some of you might’ve already heard by now, previous reports concerning Apple’s plans have suggested that the Cupertino-based giant will make use of sapphire glass in at least one of its products that are expected to hit the shelves by the end of the year. Initially it’s been speculated that sapphire glass will only make it on the iWatch, but now we’ve come across new reports, indicating that Apple could use sapphire a lot more extensively than initially thought.