The Apple Watch Ultra's sapphire crystal is not as strong as it should be - the Garmin Fenix 7 has a better coating

A few months ago, Apple unveiled the Apple Watch Ultra, a secure smartwatch with a titanium case and sapphire crystal. Famous blogger JerryRigEverything decided to test this glass, at the same time comparing the Apple Watch with competitors in the form of Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 and Garmin Fenix 7.

Here's What We Know

The main purpose of this experiment is to find out if these three watches really have sapphire glass, and whether Apple, Samsung and Garmin are lying by advertising it. As the blogger explains, sapphire is a material with a hardness level close to diamond. In the language of the Mohs scale, which measures the hardness of minerals from 1 to 10, glass scratches at level 6, while sapphire scratches at level 8 or even 9, depending on how clean it is.

In tests, the Apple Watch Ultra's sapphire glass had minor scratches at levels 6 and 7, while the real damage starts at level 8. The Galaxy Watch 5 had similar results, although scuffs at levels 6 and 7 were less noticeable than the Apple Watch Ultra. This is most likely due to impurities in the material or polishing issues.

The Garmin Fenix 7 has the cleanest sapphire crystal, as there were virtually no scuffs on levels 6 and 7.

Thus, neither Apple, Samsung nor Garmin lie, although the Apple Watch Ultra's screen seems a bit more scratch-prone. By the way, Apple says it has been using sapphire material in its devices since the iPhone 5. It's actually a sapphire composite material, which is not as hard as pure sapphire.

Source: JerryRigEverything