Mobile phone makers that use the Gorilla Glass for screens on phones and tablets they produce will soon be able to offer new qualities to their devices once Corning finishes developing its glass technology that is anti-reflective and anti-microbial.

Corning Senior Vice President and Operations Chief of Staff Jeffrey Evenson disclosed the tough material the company is working on at the MIT Technology Review Mobile Summit 2013 in June.

He shared that Corning was initially working on an anti-microbial technology for the healthcare industry but later realized that glass could have a larger market. The cover glass could kill drug-resistant bacteria and drug-resistant viruses.

Such kind of screen would be another selling point for mobile phone makers since research has found that cellphones have more germs than other items such as the doorknob, checkout screen, an animal food bowl, kitchen counter and toilet seat.

The anti-reflective feature would help provide a solution to screen glare experienced by mobile phone users when outdoors. "It's going to make sunlight reading much, much easier," Mr Evenson said.

To prove the strength of the Gorilla Glass, devices using the material had been tested via driving and results seen below indicate it withstood the trial most of the time.

But when the glass on a Samsung Galaxy S4 was hammered, the screen broke.

However, manufacturers could argue that the mobile phones are not normally subjected to such strong pressures in daily use unlike what was done in stress tests, but the bigger test for users is the daily exposure to bacteria and viruses the owner gets from its use as well as difficulty in reading outdoors, which the new glass would hopefully address.

But the technology will likely be available on devices at the earliest after two years, Mr Evenson said.

RELATED STORIES