One of the Galaxy S24 Ultra's standout features is the screen. It includes the new Corning Gorilla Armor glass, which is one of the most notable updates on the phone, despite Samsung underestimating it. This new screen glass is not only said to be more durable, but also has a coating that greatly reduces screen reflections. It seems that this new trick caught Apple's attention, as the iPhone 17 could feature an anti-reflective coating similar to that of the Galaxy S24 Ultra for its screen.
iPhone 17 could steal this feature from the Galaxy S24 Ultra!
According to a MacRumors article citing a lesser-known Chinese tipster, Apple purchased specialized display coating equipment from Japan and delivered it to the Chinese supply chain. This coating equipment will be used on future iPhones, presumably on the iPhone 17 (as it is too late to be used on the iPhone 16). Thanks to this, the iPhone 17 range is expected to come with a “super hard anti-glare” screen that is “more scratch resistant than you think”.
Apple already uses the “Ceramic Shield” brand for its ceramic-infused display glass, which Corning manufactures. The Ceramic Shield of the iPhone 15 range is considered “more resistant than any smartphone glass”. However, that was before Samsung used Corning Gorilla Armor on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Gorilla Armor performs better in drop and scratch resistance tests (although Corning did not reveal the product used for the baseline measurement). The coating reduces reflection by up to 75%, improving screen readability and minimizing screen reflections.
In fact, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has excellent low-glare properties
This means that using your cell phone in sunlight or other bright lights does not cause an irritating reflection. It is incredibly free from this problem, to the point where you start to notice how bad light reflections can be on other competing devices. That said, you no longer need to tilt your phone or shade it to see what's on the screen, as the glossy, glare-free panel does the job without help.
It remains to be seen whether Apple can achieve similar results for the iPhone 17. If it does, this would lead the industry to more widely adopt this new screen technology.