Gorilla Glass is a very useful screen protection feature found primarily in mid to high-end and flagship devices. Even though Corning’s alkali-aluminosilicate glass sheets were first used on the original iPhone in 2007, Corning had been in the business of manufacturing chemically reinforced glass sheets for almost five decades at that point.
Nevertheless, Corning did not have any experience in manufacturing protective glass sheets for smartphones before 2007. In fact, they did not even officially have a name for what they were manufacturing for iPhones back then. The term Gorilla Glass was coined and officially registered under the Corning brand much later in 2008. Since then, Corning’s Gorilla Glass range quickly became the universal standard in OEM screen protection for smartphones.
What Is Gorilla Glass on Phones Exactly?
Gorilla Glass is the registered brand name for chemically reinforced, alkali-aluminosilicate glass sheets manufactured exclusively by Corning. Electronics manufacturers across the globe use these slim, lightweight, and scratch-resistant glass sheets as cover glass for not just phone screens, but also for protecting screens on tablets, laptops, smart watches, TV sets, monitors, camera lenses, and other portable devices with displays.
Despite its wide useability, Gorilla Glass is used more for OEM smartphone protection than all of its other uses in consumer electronics combined. How Corning makes their cover glass sheets so effective in protecting phone screens from scratches, bumps, and falls is a trademarked secret, but we do know that systematic immersion in heated potassium salt-based ion exchange vats is an instrumental part of that process.
What Phone Has Gorilla Glass?
Before we can get to answering the question, there are certain points about the alkali-aluminosilicate sheet glass that we must discuss. First and foremost, you should be asking the question, what phone has Gorilla Glass in its latest iterations? What a lot of consumers do not realise is that Gorilla Glass has been around for a long time, and the manufacturer has improved on quality exponentially over those 16+ years.
As a result of the iterative improvements, there have been nine generations of Gorilla Glass releases to date. These nine generations of Gorilla Glass are now covering tens of millions of handsets from the past and the present at this point. Since older versions of the chemically reinforced glass are nowhere near as effective in protecting your smartphone, you should be looking for smartphones with:
- Gorilla Glass Victus 2 (late 2022)
- Gorilla Glass Victus (mid-2020)
- Gorilla Glass 6 (mid-2018)
If you are wondering why all new smartphones don’t have Gorilla Glass Victus or Gorilla Glass Victus 2 in 2023, there are multiple reasons for that. The latest iterations of Gorilla Glass protection always come with a limited-time exclusivity for a specific OEM. For example, Gorilla Glass 6, Gorilla Glass Victus, and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 were exclusively available on select high-end/flagship Samsung phones upon release.
Even after the exclusivity period is over and other manufacturers gain the rights needed to use Gorilla Glass on their respective smartphones, there is the issue of manufacturing cost. Consequently, you will only be able to find the latest versions of Gorilla Glass on flagship and high-end smartphones, irrespective of the manufacturer. Mid-range smartphones may also have Gorilla Glass protection of course, but to keep the manufacturing costs lower, OEMs will use an older version of Gorilla Glass.
If you are looking for phones with Gorilla Glass and do not have £1,000+ – £1,500+ to spend on a smartphone, don’t hesitate to go for a much cheaper model with Gorilla Glass 6 instead. It scored significantly better than its predecessor in both drop and scratch tests back in 2018. To date, Gorilla Glass 6 holds up pretty well. As for the models themselves, we will take a look through some of the more recent ones in the next point.
What Phones Have Gorilla Glass: The Models
Now that you know what Gorilla Glass is and what you should be looking for, here’s a brief list of phone models from multiple manufacturers that have one of the latest versions of Gorilla Glass on the screens:
- Samsung Galaxy S23
- Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro
- Sony Xperia 1 III
- Google Pixel 7 Pro
- Oppo Find X5 Pro
- Asus ROG Phone 5 Ultimate
- OnePlus 11 and 11 Pro
Do note that these are just some of the best-reviewed modern smartphones with Gorilla Glass in the UK right now, but they are by no means the only smartphones to have Gorilla Glass on them. To get the full list, you will need to visit the official Corning website.
What Samsung Phones Have Gorilla Glass: The Best Models
Almost a decade back in 2014, Corning introduced Gorilla Glass 3 and formed a unique partnership with Samsung for limited exclusivity for the Galaxy S4. A limited exclusivity contract ensures that the product will remain exclusively available to the contract partner, but only until the contract expires.
Almost every year since then, this partnership between Corning and Samsung has not been broken. As we should expect from any successful business partnership that lasts for as long as this one has, more Samsung smartphones have Corning Gorilla Glass on them than phones from any other manufacturer.
Even in 2023, the exclusivity factor remains just as valid as always, given only the Samsung Galaxy S23-series of smartphones has the 9th Generation of Gorilla Glass, aka Gorilla Glass Victus 2 (as of mid-2023). If you are looking for more options, the list below has some of the best Samsung smartphones available right now that also come with Gorilla Glass protection.
- Galaxy S23-Series
- Galaxy S22-Series
- Galaxy S21-Series
- Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus
- Galaxy Note 20 Plus and Ultra
- Galaxy Note 10 and 10 Plus
- Galaxy Z Flip 4
- Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
- Galaxy Z Flip & Flip 5G
- Galaxy Z Fold 4
- Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G
- Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G
The list above is almost comprehensive, provided that you are not looking for Samsung smartphones with Gorilla Glass older than the 6th Gen.
What Samsung Phones Have Gorilla Glass: What About the Older Models?
If you don’t mind using a much cheaper Samsung smartphone that has Gorilla Glass protection from a much older generation on them, you will find the list next to be more relevant to you.
- Galaxy A13
- Galaxy A23 and A23 5G
- Galaxy A33 5G
- Galaxy A32 and A32 5G
- Galaxy A53 5G
- Galaxy A52 and A52 5G
- Galaxy A73 5G
- Galaxy A72
- Galaxy M52 5G
Before you choose any of the models mentioned above, there is a very important point to keep in mind. Samsung releases a new variant of the A-Series and M-Series every year. Always check the release date before purchasing any new smartphone. Ideally, you don’t want to buy anything older than a year in the mid-range.
In case you are confused between a slightly older flagship handset and the latest mid-range phone, then it’s time to introduce you to a few key rules. Always keep in mind even if it was a flagship at some point, any smartphone older than two years is not worth the purchase.
Now, this would not be a real issue, had it not been for the fact that your OEM will soon stop updating your smartphone with timely security updates. Unfortunately, developers will do that after 2 – 3 years at best for flagships. Samsung has a good track record of providing support to older flagships, but don’t buy any model that was released more than two years ago, even if it is within Samsung’s support cycle.
Your smartphone will no longer be supported with OTA updates in just a few months at worst and a year at best. It is a better decision to buy a mid-range smartphone from 2022 – 23 than it is to buy a flagship or high-end smartphone released in 2020 or earlier.
What Phones Have Gorilla Glass Alternatives?
Nearly all smartphones come with some kind of protection these days, even if it isn’t the latest version of Gorilla Glass. In fact, some smartphones do not use a Gorilla Glass cover to protect their smartphones at all. Instead, they opt for similar alternatives from other manufacturers.
If a smartphone does not have Gorilla Glass protection, you can expect it to be protected by either Dragontrail Glass from AGC or Xensation (iPhones only) from Schott AG. All iPhones from 12th gen onwards have Xensation Glass protection on them. Schott AG also offers an additional option called sapphire glass protection, but it is too expensive to be used on mass-manufactured smartphones. Sapphire Glass is exclusively found on limited edition smartphones.
Irrespective of the protection that the manufacturer may or may not have used on your smartphone, it is highly advised that you add an extra layer of protection on the display. Capacitive tempered glass protectors do a pretty good job of keeping your smartphones protected from falls. Also, putting a cover on the back can protect it from falls that even Gorilla Glass may not be able to protect against.