Corning Incorporated announced that Lava will be the first mobile device manufacturer in India to sell a Rs. 5,499 military-grade smartphone featuring Gorilla Glass 3. Slated for release on January 22, the Z1 smartphone is part of a new lineup of recently launched Lava devices that also includes the Z2, Z4 and Z6 smartphones which all utilize Gorilla Glass 3 and offer an entry point for many Indian consumers to move from a feature phone to a smartphone.
Originally launched in 2013, Gorilla Glass 3 is uniquely formulated as a high damage resistance glass, providing up to 4X improvement in scratch resistance when compared to competitive aluminosilicate glasses from other manufacturers. Gorilla Glass 3 is one of Corning’s best-selling device glasses.
“Around 400 million Indian consumers are likely to transition from a feature phone to a smartphone in the near future and, in the last year, it’s become apparent that smartphones are a key tool for everyday living,” said Dr. Jaymin Amin, vice president and general manager, Gorilla Glass. “With Lava’s extensive knowledge of its customer base, and their willingness to utilize Gorilla Glass on their latest device, they are providing a compelling solution for consumers buying their first smartphone. This new development is a really exciting opportunity for the future of our partnership and continued growth in the Indian market.”
In addition to designing Gorilla Glass 3 into its latest Z Series smartphones, Lava has designed Gorilla Glass across a broad range of its portfolio over the past four years, including its best-selling Z81 and Z61 models.
The Lava Z1 is completely designed in India by Indian engineers from its industrial design to its hardware and software. The Z1 was tested by Lava using MIL-STD-810H*. Lava was also the first brand to launch its ‘Designed in India’ feature phone in 2018.
“Based on our extensive research on the budget segment customers, we realized that an important aspect they aspire for in their device is durability,” said Tejinder Singh, Head – Product, Lava International Limited. “This device is for consumers who are upgrading from feature phones and hence, consumer expectations of a longer lifecycle are a challenge considering their extreme environmental conditions. Our design engineers worked on that in detail and using Gorilla Glass 3, the Lava Z1 was designed with military grade toughness to meet unmatched standards of ruggedness in the segment.”
Gorilla Glass has been designed into more than 8 billion devices by more than 45 major brands. Throughout the company’s Mobile Consumer Electronics (MCE) market access platform, Corning continues its legacy of innovation with its market-leading cover glasses as well as glass and optics for semiconductor products that enhance performance, deliver new connectivity features, enable new designs, and support immersive user experiences with augmented reality and 3D sensing.
