Corning Aims to Double Sales of Smartphone Cover Glass

Corning wants to double sales of its Gorilla Glass cover glass for smartphones to $2 billion by 2023, “even as the smartphone market matures,” said John Bayne, general manager of Corning Gorilla Glass. It's based on increasing the amount of Corning glass content built into the average device, he said Friday at the firm's investor day. In 2016, “we were selling into a handheld device that used a single piece of Gorilla Glass 3,” said Bayne. “We sold that glass in sheet form to a finisher who made it into a part.” Corning “was capturing” 50 cents of revenue on the average device, he said. This year, it sells to smartphone OEMs that use a piece of Gorilla Glass 6 on the front of the device, plus a second on the back, said Bayne. “For the glass on the front, we’re making and decorating that part.” Revenue capture on the average device is $12, he said. The company plans to continue bringing “innovations” in mobile devices to market, including those “that we believe can help to solve some of technology challenges facing the first generation of foldable products,” said Bayne. Samsung's April postponement of its Galaxy Fold launch validated CEO Wendell Weeks' forecast that foldable smartphones wouldn't be ready for prime time soon (see 1904220028).