San Diego — Kyocera hopes to be first to market with a smartphone equipped with rugged sapphire crystal display, which it said would be affordable.
A smartphone with the display will be “coming soon,” the company said.
The company, known for waterproof and ruggedized smartphones, said it has 41 years of experience synthesizing man-made sapphire for electronic components, LED lighting, and high-end wrist watches. Sapphire is the second-hardest mineral on the planet after diamonds, the company noted.
“We can’t say with absolute certainty that we’ll be first in the industry to offer an affordable, mass-market smartphone with a sapphire display because we don’t know exactly what our competitors are doing,” a spokesman told TWICE. “That said, we haven’t seen anything to indicate that Kyocera won’t be first.”
The coming next-generation of iPhones is also expected to have a sapphire display.
“Kyocera views Sapphire Shield as a competitive advantage, much like Smart Sonic receiver,” the spokesman added. Smart Sonic technology uses a ceramic actuator in place of a phone’s speaker so users hear conversations more clearly in noisy environments.
Smart Sonic appears in the company’s waterproof cellphones and ruggedized cellphones that meet Military Standard 810G to prevent damage from shocks and drops. Waterproof models can be completely submerged in up to 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes.
