So, Apple launched this year’s iPhone 13 and one thing that really grinds my gears is one specific thing they’ve been saying for a while and people always bitch at me I’m an Apple fanboy because I don’t mention it. Well, here you have it.
What I’m talking about is sapphire used on camera lenses. Apple has advertised it as “Sapphire crystal lens cover” for several generations…
I like sapphire and have tons of experience with it from watches. I have several watches with real sapphire crystal covering their watch face. Steinhart Ocean One, Seiko SARB, Casio Oceanus and they all have absolutely pristine crystal despite being worn A LOT and often bashed at things. That’s because sapphire is incredibly tough, hard to scratch crystal. So, it would make sense to use it on camera lenses right, so you have protection of camera lenses that will most likely never scratch.
However, as proven many times by JerryRigEverything, Apple is bullshitting all of us by stating it’s sapphire, while it’s not actually sapphire.
The tester needs to go to red level to register sapphire grade crystal. And it should be only slightly scratching with Moh level 8 and more with 9 test picks, not with 6.
Like, come on Apple. I know real sapphire crystal for regular watches cost up to 50€ depending on size and thickness. You’re charging 900€ and more for your phones, surely you can afford to slap 3 tiny lenses made out of real sapphire on those cameras. Or if not, just stop writing it’s sapphire. No one would care if it’s just strengthened glass, but when you say it’s sapphire, then fucking actually use it. It would cost them literal pennies for quantities they push out.
In a way it’s a petty thing, but in other way I wish they’d either fix this claim or fix the material used. This is customer deception and I’m surprised they haven’t got sued over it yet. It’s not fucking sapphire!
Angry Sheep Blog 