Crystal (glass) material for Apple Watch Series 6?

I also contacted Apple's Customer Support and the person I talked to says they couldn't find any documentation to confirm the material used for the display on the Series 6. None of the other agents around them could confirm that either. They said most likely it would remain the same as the previous generations (sapphire for steel and titanium, Ion-X for aluminum); however, they said that since they could not confirm this information, to just wait till the watch is physically available where someone will be able to confirm the material by looking at the backside. I couldn't find any promo material that showed the backside of the stainless steel model. The AR model on Apple's website is the aluminum model. Even Apple's technical documentation has not been updated to show the materials. Here is a link to the support page that shows material compositions of their watches for people with skin allergies: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204665

For now, it's a waiting game (albeit a brief one).

Jedi Knife wrote:

Maybe in the future we will be able to order specific case material and crystal materials to our preferences; that would be a great option!

You should suggest that to Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

The stainless steel and titanium have sapphire crystal. The aluminum has Ion-X. They just updated their specs page to reflect the Series 6 materials: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204665.

I had a chat with a Sales Specialist who said she double checked it and it remains the same as the Series 4 and 5, the Stainless Steel, Titanium, and Hermes are sapphire crystals, all others are Ion-X. I sent feedback that Apple should add this information.

I also had a chat with an Apple specialist who replied the following.

Thank you for your patience, but we can’t seem to find anything that discusses the display materials on any of the watches. Stainless or otherwise. I’m not sure what that means, but I cannot guarantee that the stainless watch has a sapphire display.

@nsiqueiros. Thank you for posting that. I also set Apple has updated the “tech specs” in the Apple Store to discuss which glass type comes with each case material. Good to know it was just an overnight

Yeah, I really don't understand how they could forget to mention (and still don't do it prominently on the website) such an important aspect of the watch. I guess a lot of people ordered the less expensive one instead of stainless steel because of this missing information. That must be a lost in sales which goes into millions of dollars ... .

It looks like their “strategy” this time around was focusing on the gimmicky health features instead of design and construction. It is a losing strategy when it comes to intelligent consumers who look at things like construction and materials and are willing to pay more money for a better made product. They probably handed this whole Watch Series 6 sales and marketing cycle off to a team headed or staffed with less than qualified members for some reason...

The health features aren't "gimmicky" if they were I would be wearing a different watch. The problem is the people who handle this kind of thing are young and techy and they come from a generation that never wore wristwatches. Even though Apple sells more watches than anyone they really are not a watch company like Tag, Concord, etc. and they don't have a staff of watch builders in house. So when it came time to lay all this stuff out and they couldn't fit it all they decided to cut the crystal materials. And I would bet money that the people who made this decision all wear the aluminum model watch.

@Jedi Knife @deggie

I totally agree with you. It is difference between day and night (ion-x to sapphire) and this would be a dealbreaker for me if they would haven't used the sapphire crystal glass on front. As you said. I guess most of the people who made this decision surely wear the aluminium model. I am totally disposed to pay more for quality materials and work ... .

Yes you are right Deggie the health features aren’t gimmicky; I really appreciate the ECG and its one reason why I’m upgrading. Apple should be putting sapphire crystals in all their Watch models for lots of reasons, like you mentioned one of them being that the Apple Watch really is outselling the former standard bearers of quality watch making brands. I guess a good takeaway for Apple would be to make their watches well crafted with as many quality materials as possible throughout their line since they are now a de facto leading watch brand.

If you have been looking at watches lately the cost of silicone crystals has increased. They could add it to the lower end models but they would have to raise the price. For some, such as mountain bike riders, etc Ion- X is the better option.

Jedi Knife wrote:

Yes you are right Deggie the health features aren’t gimmicky; I really appreciate the ECG and its one reason why I’m upgrading. Apple should be putting sapphire crystals in all their Watch models for lots of reasons, like you mentioned one of them being that the Apple Watch really is outselling the former standard bearers of quality watch making brands. I guess a good takeaway for Apple would be to make their watches well crafted with as many quality materials as possible throughout their line since they are now a de facto leading watch brand.

It isn't simply a matter of "quality". There are disadvantages to a sapphire crystal that my matter to some people. Although it's more scratch resistant than ion-x, it's also more likely to shatter on impact. And realistically, Apple isn't trying to make a Rolex that will be passed down through generations. It's a cell phone you wear on your wrist with the same life span of a cell phone.

The whole “disposable device” approach to all technology needs to be reevaluated. I’ve heard it quite a bit but I’m not personally sold on it. It’s not environmentally or financially sound. Furthermore the Watch is far more personal of a device than the iPhone; it is something meant to be worn on our body for long periods of time, even during sleeping as it’s capabilities expand. If I had a tattoo I had to look at constantly I would want it to look as good as possible; and same for the Watch.

As far as the mountain bikers go; that may be a good situation for using the Ion-X Glass but are there more mountain bikers that bike to the extent of shattering their watches or are there more users who want to have something that looks nice that they are going to wearing and looking at most of the time? Maybe in the future we will be able to order specific case material and crystal materials to our preferences; that would be a great option!

There are more young people who have an active life style with a limited budget (by far) than there are older people who have worn watches and prefer sapphire crystals. And that gap will continue to get wider. Fitbits, Garmins, Fossil, Swatch, Casio G Shock, etc all use glass, not sapphire.

As far as slowing down technology good luck with that.