by Just like the stainless steel models of the Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Ultra has sapphire crystal to cover the display. Because sapphire is one of the hardest minerals known, it is extremely difficult to scratch – making it perfect for premium watches. This time, JerryRigEverything tested the Apple Watch Ultra’s sapphire crystal to compare it to other smartwatches that also have a sapphire cover.
Does the Apple Watch Ultra have a pure sapphire covered display?
The YouTuber, known for durability testing electronic devices, has posted a new video measuring the hardness of the sapphire cover on the Apple Watch Ultra, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Garmin Fenix ​​7. The test was to find out if these three watches actually have sapphire crystal as advertised by the companies.
As explained by Zack (who runs the YouTube channel), sapphire is a material with a hardness level close to that of diamond. Using the Mohs scale, which measures the hardness of minerals from 1 to 10, the YouTuber shows how scratch-resistant the screens of devices such as cell phones and smartwatches are. While glass scratches at level 6, sapphire scratches at level 8 or even 9 depending on how pure it is.
Apple claims to use sapphire material in its devices since the iPhone 5, which was the first camera lens to have a sapphire cover. However, what Apple actually uses is a sapphire composite material, which isn’t as hard as pure sapphire. But what about the Apple Watch Ultra?
JerryRigEverything Tests show that the Apple Watch Ultra’s display is actually covered in real sapphire, but there are a few things to note. In testing, the Apple Watch Ultra’s sapphire crystal had minor abrasions at levels 6 and 7, while actual damage begins at level 8.
Compared to other smartwatches
The results were similar for the Galaxy Watch 5, however the abrasions at levels 6 and 7 were less visible than on the Apple Watch Ultra. The YouTuber explains that this is likely due to contamination in the material or polishing issues. As for the Garmin Fenix ​​7, tests show it has the purest sapphire crystal of the three watches, having hardly any wear at levels 6 and 7.
But in summary, neither Apple, Samsung nor Garmin are lying when they say their watches have sapphire crystal – although the Apple Watch Ultra’s screen seems to be a bit more prone to scratches than other watch screens. You can watch JerryRigEverything full video below:
Other durability tests show that the titanium case with a rugged design also makes the Apple Watch Ultra more resilient to larger impacts, which makes sense since Apple is targeting the Apple Watch Ultra for people who do extreme sports like mountain climbing and deep diving.
The Apple Watch Ultra is $799 in the US, but you can pick it up cheaper on Amazon.
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