HTC U Ultra Sapphire Edition Vindicated

The HTC U Ultra, although craftfully designed and made, still fell short of the promises that HTC made. There was still one promise that had to be fulfilled or broken, but that one comes in a special version of the smartphone. That is the HTC U Ultra Sapphire Edition, promised to have the toughest screen among all smartphones. Naturally, that was an open challenge to JerryRigEverything to put that claim to the Mohs pick test. And, fortunately for him and us, he got his hands on the rare creature. For science!

Zack Nelson has been doing screen scratch tests since before they were fashionable. As such, he pretty much has the process and tools down to a "T", save for one instance where his carelessness caused quite a ruckus on the Internet. Most of the phones he tested, however, scratched at a level 5 or 6 on the Mohs scale. At leas the ones with the latest Gorilla Glass 5.

Sapphire glass, however, should be tougher than that and should only scratch at an 8 or 9. Considering the logistics and costs involved in making sapphire glass, especially one at the size of an HTC U Ultra, the odds seem stacked against HTC. If even the usually meticulous Apple failed that test on its exponentially smaller camera glass, what chance does the embattled HTC have?

Apparently, lots! The HTC U Ultra Sapphire Edition did stay true to its name and only scratched at an 8, just like how sapphire would. That is the exact behavior of a sapphire watch from Tissot, who has been doing sapphire even before they became a holy grail on smartphones.

It should, perhaps, be used as a word of caution that not everything advertised as having sapphire glass protection really does have that much protection. Like the ZAGG Invisible Shielr Sapphire Defense screen protector. It didn't even reach glass-level toughness, scratching at the same level as plastic.