Gorilla Glass 2 to debut at CES 2012

Without it, your fancy smartphone would have been cast to the back draw of your gadget graveyard years ago. It’s installed in a half-billion phones globally. It’s Gorilla Glass and version two is coming out at CES 2012.

Corning, the manufacturer of Gorilla Glass announced its latest iteration, Gorilla Glass two. Gorilla Glass protects against scratches and the floor, which it seems most smartphones are magically attracted to. There is no word on what Gorilla Glass two will deliver, but senior VP of Corning, James R. Steiner promises significant improvements.

“Corning Gorilla Glass has been a tremendous success for Corning, enjoying excellent market acceptance across mobile device industries. Handset and tablet device manufacturers are clearly driving toward higher functionality from thinner designs. Corning’s latest innovation in Gorilla Glass technology is very well positioned to meet these challenges and enable broader touch technology penetration.”

The Corning Booth at CES will sport an “82-inch advanced multi-touch LCD display prototype” made of Gorilla Glass 2. Expect nothing short of a sledgehammer blow to demonstrate the power of Gorilla Glass 2, possibly.

There is some speculation that the iPad 3 will sport Gorilla Glass 2. The rumour came about due to a possible early launch of the iPad 3 which will now ensure that there is enough time for Apple to integrate Gorilla Glass 2 into the new iDevice.

As for the original Gorilla Glass, its special composition allows high levels of compressive stress. Phones such as the HTC Wildfire, Motorola Droid X2, Nokia N9 and Samsung Galaxy S II all rock this protective layer. iPhones do too, but Apple is mysteriously hesitant to credit Corning.

As demonstrated in the video below, the original Gorilla Glass is insanely tough. It will be interesting to see how Corning can improve on its dynamite package.