Are you sick of your phone? It's probably better than getting sick from your phone… which is probably covered in bacteria from all those times you tap or swipe the glass screen every day. Corning wants to help you keep your phone germ-free (or at least closer to germ-free than it is now) with a new display featuring an antimicrobial structure.
Corning's new Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass is a sturdy, damage-resistant glass screen for phones, tablets, and other devices, and it's designed to help keep your screen clean.
Of course the reason your phone is a hotbed of bacteria is because normal screens pick up bacteria from your fingertips — so unless Corning plans to launch an antimicrobial finish for your flesh, odds are you're already awash in bacteria. And that's not necessarily a bad thing — our bodies rely on all sorts of bacteria to digest food, strengthen our immune systems and do other things.
But not all bacteria are good for you, so if Corning's new screen works as promised, it could theoretically help you from contracting something icky next time you let someone with a cold borrow your tablet for a few minutes… maybe.
Corning's secret sauce involves including an ionic silver antimicrobial agent in the screen so that it's not only tough and hard to scratch, but also able to repel bacteria.