A lot of consumers were disappointed when the iPhone 6 was released without the rumored sapphire screen display. This time, the said covering might just make an appearance at the Consumers Electronics Show happening in a few weeks, but it's not going to be on an Apple device.
DigiTimes reported that Xiaomi, a Chinese manufacturer that gained so much attention this year, will announce the Xiaomi Mi5 equipped with the strong covering. The handset will aim for the high-end market and will target consumers that are looking for top-of-the-line and more powerful smartphones.
The report added that the Xiaomi Mi5 will come with a 5.7-inch display with quad HD 2560 x 1440 screen resolution, a 64-bit quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor paired with Adreno 430 graphics chipset, and 3 GB of RAM. Other features include a 20.7-megapixel main camera with Sony Exmor RS sensor, which is a big jump from the Xiaomi Mi4's 13-megapixel Sony IMX214 camera.
The smartphone will sport the usual curved corners and the trademark "MI" logo on the top left corner. The speaker grill and sensor are placed in the middle, and front-camera at the right. More details are expected to surface as the trade show draws near.
This is not the first time that a smartphone will sport a sapphire covering. Kyocera has its own smartphone with sapphire screen display. However, the smartphone did not kick off well and is serving the mid-range segment of the market.
DigiTimes noted that using the sturdy material on the screen might pose a problem for Xiaomi as the existing sapphire production is not enough to meet the demands, especially if the company is planning to release large screens. There is a need to enlarge the sapphire ingots' cross-section area that will also increase the time needed for the sapphire crystal to grow. Moreover, sapphire production is quite complicated and costly. Meanwhile, China-based Lens Technology and Biel Crystal Manufactory have expanded their sapphire processing capacities in order to accommodate bigger production.
