"From S23 to S24, with that Gorilla Armor, we had a 60% decrease in screen repairs...proof positive that durability is king."
Samsung Smartphone Product Manager Charles Uptegrove
Samsung phone screens are tougher now.
Each year, the Samsung Galaxy S series phones arrive with the latest Gorilla Glass, now Gorilla Armor, from Corning to protect the display. While it's never the highlight feature, there are always compelling claims about enhanced protection against scratches and cracks.
It sounds great, and while you can drop-test or scratch the screen to see how it responds, nothing is a perfect simulation of millions of people in the real world using their phones and seeing what happens to these screens over time.
This year was no different; Samsung announced on Wednesday at its Unpacked event that the Galaxy S25 features Corning Gorilla Armor 2, the "industry’s first anti-reflective glass ceramic for mobile devices."
Marvelous, but one of the little asides regarding the Galaxy S24 display in a session with Samsung Smartphone Product Manager Charles Uptegrove grabbed my attention more than the pronouncements about the new Gorilla Armor.
Uptegrove tells Laptop Mag that "from S23 to S24, with that Gorilla Armor, we had a 60% decrease in screen repairs...proof positive that durability is king."
Durability and sustainability go hand in hand
That 60% statistic means so much more than any claim that a display is 4x more scratch-resistant or less likely to break than ever before.
This is complex data to back up the claim that Galaxy S24 series owners were far less likely to experience a broken display.
I asked Uptegrove to confirm this wasn't a limited data set, like phones brought into specific Samsung service centers in Switzerland. He confirmed that this was a global figure.
This one shouldn't be ignored in the face of all the sustainability programs and other eco-friendly messages we see from tech companies. Part of the problem is the disposability and fragility of modern phones and other tech, necessitating recycling parts as much as possible and disposing of others.
Offering a more durable product is ultimately an outstanding ecological benefit, as it allows the owner, or even multiple owners, to get the most use possible out of a device before eventually turning to recycling.
At the same time, we'll have to wait and see how the latest Gorilla Armor 2 fares this year, it certainly gives me added confidence to see hard data supporting the resiliency of its predecessor.
