Apple Watch Sport Ion-X Display Glass Gets Scratch Tested [Video]

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Posted April 22, 2015 at 12:36am by Shalom Levytam

Check out this video showing a scratch test of the Apple Watch Sport's Ion-X display glass.

The 38mm and 42mm glass display covers were provided to Unbox Therapy by Sonny Dickson, who has obtained authentic Apple parts in the past.

Ion-X glass is the same material used in the windows of space shuttles and high-speed trains. This glass is thin and light, yet surprisingly strong — five times stronger than regular glass. There are many ways to strengthen glass at the surface, but Ion-X glass is hardened down to its molecules. During the manufacturing process, the glass is dipped in a 750-degree molten potassium salt bath. That’s when ion exchange takes place, with the smaller sodium ions being removed from the glass and replaced by larger potassium ions. As the glass cools, these larger ions create an extremely hard surface layer that is resistant to scratches and impact.

The scratch resistance of the display glass is tested using a key, a knife, steel wool, and two types of sand paper.

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odedoo1 - April 23, 2015 at 3:38am

There is also a good side to this story, sapphire is a crystal just like diamonds and I worked with diamonds for many years, the thing is that the harder the substance is the easier it is to break ( that's why every diamond dealer office have a special wall to wall carpet) I've seen first hand what happens to a diamond that falls on concrete, if it hits the bottom point of the diamond it breaks right off and if it's a heavy enough diamond it will totally shatter, any way you get my point, it's les likely that the ion glass will break when you accidentally drop the watch when you take it off for charging or hit a wall by a mistake then the sapphire will.

SimonSays - April 22, 2015 at 12:40pm

Lol. This guy wouldn't know steel wool. And sapphire? It's pure sapphire on the more expensive watches. Not sapphire coated.

iWatcher - April 22, 2015 at 11:29am

Not steel wool dude.

Ren - April 22, 2015 at 10:28am

It will be obsolete next year no need to test.

gamerscul9870 - April 22, 2015 at 10:38am

Most first made iPhones lived to this day as for iPads and macs all in good condition. The watch is no exception depending on how you'll take care of it.

Guest - April 22, 2015 at 5:31am

Thanks for warning us not to put sandpaper and retracted knives in our pocket to avoid scratching the watch surface. Personally I'll just keep my watch on my wrist where it supposed to go.

odedoo1 - April 23, 2015 at 2:51am

I'm guessing what he meant was when you reach for something out of your pocket. But yes pretty lame.

MUKAI - April 22, 2015 at 3:43am

There will be a solution to that, maybe getting those screen protectors that are tempered glass, if not a separate screen protector made out of sapphire glass.

zetaprime - April 22, 2015 at 3:47am

Actually that's exactly what I put on my iPhone as soon as I got it. A Zagg tempered glass screen protector.

odedoo1 - April 23, 2015 at 3:07am

True I always use a protective tempered glass on my iPhones and iPads but we are dealing with a new technology meaning how hard you press on the screen for different App functions and a tempered glass protector probably will mess that technology up so a silicon protector might be a better choice here unless you just buy a sapphire replacement separately and replace the glass when you get the first scratch which knowing Apple should be a perfect fit and easy to do.

Jon Ivy - April 22, 2015 at 3:41am

Well, if you look closely. His key does not have any triangular edges, but just a round beard, for the knife he didn't put the point of the blade to use, and his 'steel wool' was a green dishwasher soft pad. So, pretty manipulative. The sandpaper was the first 'real' test, and the watch failed. Go purchase this one season wonder watch!

gamerscul9870 - April 22, 2015 at 10:11am

Yet how can one have watch near sandpaper? Like he said, everyday stuff you use that may end up next to it won't make it look worn out after a week.

zetaprime - April 22, 2015 at 1:00am

So why didn't they make the glass on the iPhone out of that stuff?

Frank_R - April 22, 2015 at 1:52am

I think they did, that's why my iPhone 6 scratches way easier than the Gorilla Glass iPhone 5s. Personally, I think Apple was forced to go with Ion-X for the iPhone 6 after the botched plan to have GT Advanced make sapphire.

zetaprime - April 22, 2015 at 1:59am

Oops I hadn't watched the video all the way thru. Looks like it would have been a bad idea, unless like you say that was what they did use. Fortunately l don't keep sandpaper in my pocket.

odedoo1 - April 23, 2015 at 3:22am

The iPhone 6 was supposed to come out with the sapphire screen but if you followed the mess with Apples new sapphire glass factory which had many problems and by the time those problems would have been solved they announced that there is no way that they would be able to keep up with the amount per day that Apple wanted produced so the factory went chapter 11 ( makes sense, nobody else have tried making a sapphire glass this size before with such precision and round edges) Hopefully the 6Ss will come out with that future.

gamerscul9870 - April 23, 2015 at 3:26am

It will. The s always stands for something to relate to new features. The future iPhone have also been said to be extra strong to resist bending, plus I'm not sure about the waterproofing part that Apple had patented.