Apple

Tim Cook confirms Apple's new sapphire glass facility during ABC interview

posted by Alan F.

Jan 24, 2014, 12:50 PM

Tim Cook confirms Apple's new sapphire glass facility during ABC interview

With today being the 30th anniversary of the Mac, Apple CEO Tim Cook is making the media rounds. On Friday night, ABC will be showing its interview with Cook on World News with Diane Sawyer. But a segment of the interview was aired Friday morning on Good Morning America. During the chat with ABC News' David Muir, Cook confirmed that Apple's plant in Arizona is related to the production of sapphire glass for future devices, although he wouldn't say if sapphire glass is being used for an iPhone phablet.

Cook also relayed some personal information, telling Muir that he reads 700 to 800 emails a day sent from Apple customers. Not surprisingly, he mentioned that Apple maintains a high level of secrecy with black drapes hung over secret projects, explaining that Apple believes that "people love surprises." The CEO also showed off a dry sense of humor. When asked if the sapphire glass being produced in the new plant is for the iWatch, Cook came back and said that it was for a ring.

While the complete interview, which will include some comments about the NSA 'scandal', won't air until tonight, you can view the part of it that was broadcast Friday morning. All you need to do is click on the video below.

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source: ABC via BGR

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17 Comments

7. COZMAN

Posts: 99; Member since: Nov 28, 2013

Amazed that small things can impress what is supposed to be a big mind. APPLE need much more than glass to get back in the game. Innovation? Perhaps but they need way bigger than this to gain back market share. Too bad if Samsung has ditched the watch. I use mine all the time. Sound quality is excellent.

posted on Jan 24, 2014, 4:11 PM 0

6. superduper

Posts: 151; Member since: Oct 20, 2013

Samsung has ditched the Galaxy Gear and is now working furiously on the Galaxy Ring.

posted on Jan 24, 2014, 2:10 PM 7

8. willard12 unregistered

That would have been funny if the galaxy gear didn't already use sapphire glass. So who's really following whom? Jokes are funnier when based in reality.

posted on Jan 24, 2014, 6:53 PM 0

12. superduper

Posts: 151; Member since: Oct 20, 2013

Well, Apple has been using sapphire since 2012's iPhone 5. My comment above was about Samsung being caught off-guard while developing a watch, when instead they should have been developing a ring.

posted on Jan 25, 2014, 4:55 AM 0

14. willard12 unregistered

My bad, the article describes what appears to be sapphire screens for displays. Apparently, Apple was caught off guard by the note series and appear to be making phablets now. They went ahead and enabled pulled down notifications in ios 6. Also, according to apple internal emails, the ipad mini came about because of the galaxy tab 7. My point is, people always see apple as the leader and "great innovator" when in reality the take cues from everyone else just like everyone else. Additionally, there isn't anyone that will name anything invented by Apple, only things already invented by others that become popular after apple does it. So, no smart ring for apple. They would actually have to invent that and apple doesn't invent anything.

posted on Jan 25, 2014, 12:07 PM 0

15. superduper

Posts: 151; Member since: Oct 20, 2013

Perhaps, but that's not giving credit where it's due either. The Macintosh commercialized the mouse and GUI when no one else did. The keyboard and trackpad layout on laptops, that we take for granted today, was introduced on the PowerBook in the 1990s. iOS was the only operating system built from the ground up exclusively around finger-based manipulation (Microsoft squeezed XP, a desktop OS, onto a touchscreen in the early 2000s and called it a day, but it bombed; Android was developed to compete with Blackberry-style devices with a physical keyboard and D-pad/joystick controller, but had to rethink things following the iPhone launch). To suggest that the iPhone and iPad did not overturn industry conventions is a discredit to their huge engineering achievements. One need look no further than the collapse of Nokia in the phone world and the struggles of Dell, HP, Acer, AMD, and Intel in the computer world to see the effect of these two devices. If toppling the stalwarts of two established industries is not due to the innovation of a competitor, then I don't know what counts as "innovation" to you. (Also, Apple will almost certainly not release a "phablet". A 4.x inch screen, maybe, but not a phablet. Phablets are far less popular than the tech media likes to think).

posted on Jan 25, 2014, 7:36 PM 0

17. willard12 unregistered

By using terms such as "commercialized" means we are saying the same thing. However, I don't think Apple itself deserves credit for this. The mouse was not created by Apple, but Apple's loyal customers are what make their devices popular. The capacitive touchscreen was out before the iphone, but iphone customers, following the ipod, made it popular. This is because Apple customers make all of their devices popular. Apple produces great mobile devices....but not the best devices as Tim Cook would have everyone believe. Bottom line, Apple takes cues from everyone else, like sapphire glass, just like Steve Jobs said they do shamelessly.

posted on Jan 26, 2014, 12:44 PM 0

18. superduper

Posts: 151; Member since: Oct 20, 2013

What useable, fully multi-touch mobile device existed before the iPhone and iPod Touch? I can't think of any. What company would gamble on its credibility by removing optical drives from its expensive laptops? I can't think of any. Intel couldn't either – they had to retroactively create a new name (the "Ultrabook") to describe and market this product category among other manufacturers. To innovate means to renew or to make new ("novare" = to make new in Latin). Apple makes old ideas new with moderate success (phones, fingerprint sensors, multi-touch screens, lightweight laptops with long battery life, to name a few). You've used the word "invents" above. To invent means to produce something entirely original (via Latin "invenire" = to come upon), but Apple has never used that word to describe itself.

posted on Jan 26, 2014, 2:49 PM 0

9. androiphone20

Posts: 1654; Member since: Jul 10, 2013

plans to make it a tad bigger are also in the pipeline

posted on Jan 24, 2014, 10:02 PM 0

5. ncallan

Posts: 43; Member since: Mar 15, 2013

As far as I'm aware not even Apple can produce sapphire crystals large enough for a phone screen in any sort of cost effective manner. Likely for the finger print scanner/home button in the iPhone or possibly the iwatch if it exists.

posted on Jan 24, 2014, 1:07 PM 0

10. zibbyzib2000

Posts: 221; Member since: Nov 18, 2010

I'm sure they can. It's been done before.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_Nr_0sThe0

posted on Jan 25, 2014, 1:18 AM 0

11. Pdubb

Posts: 250; Member since: Aug 08, 2011

At 3X the cost of reinforced glass! So not very cost effective just yet,

posted on Jan 25, 2014, 3:26 AM 0

2. Finalflash

Posts: 4063; Member since: Jul 23, 2013

Probably for an iWatch at best since 1 factory in Arizona is not going to be supplying enough anything for iPhones. Wonder if they will actually release it this year if that is the case.