The first phone to have Gorilla Glass 4 is… the Samsung Galaxy Alpha

Last month we brought you news that Corning was working on a new version of Gorilla Glass that would protect your phone’s display from nasty falls. You may have been curious to hear which phone would be getting that new displays first. It’s actually already happened, because Gorilla Glass 4 debuted in the Samsung Galaxy Alpha.

Hang on, wasn’t Gorilla Glass 4 only unveiled last month? The Galaxy Alpha came out in August right? Both of those facts are correct, so it seems that Samsung had a special arrangement with Corning to get the new material in advance. Add that to the Alpha’s metal frame and you have a phone that’s pretty damn sturdy, in theory.

Assuming that the Galaxy Alpha was a test run, and that the new Gorilla Glass is as sturdy as Corning claims, it could well mean that we’ll see the new glass on future Samsung devices as well. It certainly would be nice to have a flagship device like the Galaxy S6 with an extra strong display.

If you are someone who is fairly clumsy and could do with a drop-proof phone, it’s good to know that something is out there — even if it does cost nearly £500.

Tom Pritchard