iPhone 6 Likely to be Made with ‘Almost Indestructible’ Sapphire Glass; Patent, Expert Support Claims

Videos of the alleged leaked 4.7-inch iPhone 6 screen taking some serious "torture" and withstanding them sparked speculations that Apple's upcoming flagship is likely to be made of the almost indestructible "sapphire glass."

In fact, according to a report by The Guardian, the Cupertino company has talked with experts in the field about making screens from the extremely hard material - third in rank - 18 months ago, which means it is possible that Apple may finally be using sapphire glass for the screen of its latest device, the iPhone 6.

One particular video by MKBHD where Marques Brownlee puts the claimed front glass of iPhone 6 into several durability tests attempting to scratch it with a knife and keys and bending it under a foot has been authenticated by Professor Neil Alford of the department of materials at London's Imperial College as sapphire glass.

"What I think they've done is make a screen out of sapphire, which is incredibly scratch resistant, incredibly hard and has a high elastic modulus - meaning it's very stiff. In my opinion the screen being shown off in the video could well be a sapphire screen. If you make sapphire thin enough, and it's flaw free, you can bend it quite considerably because it has an enormous strength." Alford - who was previously approached by Apple to talk about sapphire screens - told the Guardian referring to Brownlee's video.

"I think they will be doing some sort of a lamination - binding different crystal cuts of sapphire together - boosting the toughness of the material, while they may also have induced some sort of a strain in the surface of the glass - either compression or tension - which means that it has extra strength," he added.

Alford could not be far from the truth as a latest patent obtained for "fused glass device housings"- a new method of fusing together pieces of glass, which could be used to make casings for devices like the iPhone and iPad - granted to Apple also points to the sapphire glass alleged for iPhone 6, according to Huffington Post.

The company has previously applied for a patent for "sapphire laminates" which means it was already considering using sapphire glass for casings.

The new patent states that Apple has established a way to make an all-glass device that would be at the same time lightweight and durable, by fusing multiple pieces of glass together rather than crafting casings from a single piece, Apple Insider has learned.

Sapphire crystal is not technically new in iPhones since Apple has already used the material for its camera lenses and and the cover of the iPhone 5S' Touch ID fingerprint sensor. However, with its superior characteristics, sapphire crystals also make excellent screens that are more scratch resistant and clearer than ordinary glass and even Corning's Gorilla Glass found in majority of smartphone and tablet screens.