Want a Customized Smartphone Back Cover? Corning Is On It

The back covers of smartphones are unremarkably pretty bare and boring, but Corning has a solution: printing photorealistic images on its widely used, scratch-resistant glass.

Desire a smartphone embrace that looks like snakeskin? Or how about wood or marble? Through the company's special inkjet engineering, vendors can manufacture built-in back covers for their smartphones to contain whatever artistic design they wish.

Corning may be best known for creating the protective glass on your smartphone's forepart display. But the company besides sees an opportunity to innovate on the phone's rear

Corning Inkjet Coverings

On Wednesday, Corning showed journalists at its Sunnyvale, California, role what some of these covers might await like. Interestingly, the inkjet technology tin also be used to create texture on the glass, so a wood-like cover volition actually experience like wood. In add-on, the covers won't interfere with a smartphone's wireless charging or cellular networking.

Corning actually debuted the technology in 2022 and information technology's already used in some laptops. Lenovo, for instance, featured it in special edition Star Wars edition notebooks. Just at present the visitor has its sights on getting smartphone vendors on board.

Corning Inkjet Coverings 3

"We accept sampled [the inkjet coverings] with smartphone makers and they're also considering it," Corning VP John Bayne said in a Q&A with journalists.

When might nosotros encounter the customized back covers on real phones? According to Bayne, vendors are even so figuring out the business model surrounding customized covers. 1 problem is that limited-edition products with special designs don't necessarily appeal to everyone, creating unsold inventory for vendors.

Vendors "haven't quite figured out the supply chain economics," Bayne added. "Certainly we accept the engineering to support information technology, but I tin can't put a timeframe on it."

Withal, he envisions a future where consumers can personalize their phones when they purchase a new device. He noted that people already like to customize the digital background and lock screen to their phones. "Why wouldn't you want to personalize the back of your phone?" he asked.