--- description: Latest on the apple rumor mill is the prospect of a sapphire crystal display for the iPhone, but what does that actually mean? title: Here's what an iPhone screen made of sapphire would mean image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca589e67939237b9/69869fb606f2c13ebd330556/499479381.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # How an iPhone With a Sapphire Screen Could Save You Money by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 15, 2014 5:33 PM CUT  Kid with iPhone 5s smartphone checking internet and playing games. New generation addicted to Internet. Kid with iPhone 5s smartphone checking internet and playing games. New generation addicted to Internet.Artur Debat—Moment Editorial/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 15, 2014 5:33 PM CUT The Apple rumor mill is buzzing about the prospect of a sapphire crystal display in the next iPhone, to be announced on Sept. 9\. But what exactly is a sapphire display? And why would you want it? According to GT advanced technologies, an Apple-backed sapphire manufacturing company, the crystal is a synthetic sapphire material. The material is used in LEDs, airplane windows, certain iPhone camera lenses and fingerprint readers. The benefit of having a sapphire crystal display is that it would be much harder to break, making it much less likely that you’ll have to deal with a cracked iPhone screen every time you drop your phone. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3117952/iphone-sapphire-display-explained/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3117952/iphone-sapphire-display-explained/"},"headline":"How an iPhone With a Sapphire Screen Could Save You Money","datePublished":"2014-08-15T17:33:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:58.638Z","description":"Say goodbye to cracked screens with this synthetic crystal already used in airplane windows and rumored to be incorporated in the next iPhone","url":"https://time.com/3117952/iphone-sapphire-display-explained/","keywords":["Tech","Apple","Smartphones","iPhone","Phone"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca589e67939237b9/69869fb606f2c13ebd330556/499479381.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltca589e67939237b9/69869fb606f2c13ebd330556/499479381.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Here's what an iPhone screen made of sapphire would mean","caption":"Here's what an iPhone screen made of sapphire would mean","creditText":"Artur Debat—Moment Editorial/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3117952/iphone-sapphire-display-explained/","name":"How an iPhone With a Sapphire Screen Could Save You Money"}}]}] ```