Brits are willing to pay up to £50 more for better quality iPhone and iPad screens, a survey has found.
Apple device repair specialist iTechnician asked over 1,000 iPhone and iPad owners if they would be willing to invest more in better quality screens that wouldn’t break if dropped.
Almost 80 per cent of those surveyed said they would be happy to pay a higher price for the devices if Apple could provide stronger screens such as sapphire glass rather than the Gorilla Glass currently used.
Just under half (43 per cent) of those willing too pay more said they would be willing to pay as much as £50 more for an iPad or iPhone with a hardened screen.
57 per cent of those happy to up their spend said they would be willing to pay up to £20 more for a more resilient screen.
“Broken and scratched screens are a constant problem for iPhone and iPad owners with approximately 90 per cent of all Apple repairs [requiring] screen replacements,” commented Al Lijee from iTechnician.
“We know that Apple are trying to address this problem and there has been a lot of interest around a patent they have filed detailing some of the ways they might use sapphire glass.”
“One such scenario is as a replacement for the current Gorilla Glass on their future devices such as the iPhone 6 or new iPad. Sapphire is harder than any other natural material (except diamond) and a sapphire glass screen would be three times stronger than Gorilla Glass, and roughly three times more scratch resistant. This could mean an iPhone or iPad screen that couldn’t be scratched by keys, and wouldn’t crack even if you dropped it on a concrete pavement.”
“Sapphire glass sounds like great news, but there are potential cost implications. A Gorilla Glass display currently costs less than £2, but the damage resistant and crystal clear sapphire glass displays may cost around £20.”
“We set out to find out if Apple users would be willing to foot the bill for a more damage resistant screen and were surprised by the number of people who said they would be happy to spend as much as £50 more for a tougher screen.”
“This really shows that there is a genuine demand for sapphire glass or a similar premium solution and is a strong indicator that Apple will need to address the issue of fragile screens before too much longer.”

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