This fall, Apple introduced the new Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch SE (2nd generation), as well as the more powerful, longer battery life, new design of the Apple Watch Ultra with a titanium case and sapphire glass surface, which is the first flagship of the Apple Watch. For consumers who intend to buy the latter, they must also be very concerned about whether its sapphire glass is as strong as expected, right? The concise scientific guide brings you scratch resistance to test the durability of sapphire glass!
At present, among many Apple Watch models, Apple Watch Ultra is the most versatile. Apple Watch Ultra not only adopts a new appearance design, 49mm surface and Retina LTPO OLED display, up to 2000 nits brightness, but also equipped with S8 SiP 64-bit dual-core processor, W3 wireless chip, U1 chip, support L1, L5 GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS and Beidou positioning system, and support underwater 100-meter waterproof, IP6X dustproof, blood oxygen concentration sensing, Electronic heart rate sensing, dive depth up to 40 meters, equipped with high g-value accelerometer, high dynamic range gyroscope, ambient light sensing, water temperature sensing, depth meter and speaker specifications.
In terms of appearance, Apple Watch Ultra adopts a stronger, more corrosion-resistant titanium case, the back is made of precision ceramics, and the design of the raised design at the edge of the case protects the screen, and the sapphire glass surface can avoid damage to the edge of the screen due to impact.
However, despite its seemingly extremely strong material design, is sapphire glass scratch-resistant? In general, sapphire glass is one of the hardest minerals known, extremely difficult to scratch, and the quartz sand that is easy to touch every day is no longer a threat to it, and it has become the best choice for many high-end smart watches and mechanical watches.
Through actual measurements, the display of Apple Watch Ultra is indeed covered by sapphire glass, but there is still a little flaw.
In terms of hardness testing, the Mohs hardness scale is usually used to test for scratches, and the Apple Watch Ultra first passes the safety test at level 5 and is completely scratched.
However, in the 6th grade test, sapphire glass began to show slight scratches.
Test scratches up to level 7 are more pronounced, but are very subtle.
However, at class 8, noticeable scratches can occur on sapphire glass.
Nevertheless, there are similar test results in the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, and the Apple Watch Ultra 6 and 7 wear is more obvious, all of which have such a gap, we guess it may be because the impurities and polishing process in the Apple Watch glass material are not as good as the Galaxy Watch 5.
As for the Garmin Fenix 7, which also comes with sapphire glass, the test results prove that it is much purer than Samsung and Apple, because it has almost no scratches in the 6th and 7th level tests, and it is only scarred until level 8.
Regardless of the test results, these smart watches with sapphire glass have a screen that is more scratch-resistant and less prone to scars than ordinary glass, but if you want to further protect the glass from permanent scratches due to daily use, perhaps putting a layer of sapphire glass protective patch on it after starting it will be a better way to protect your beloved watch. After all, even if the protective patch is scratched, as long as it is torn off, it will be a brand new look.