Sapphire glass is something we usually only see on the most expensive smartwatches, but the Galaxy Watch 5 brings the scratch-resistant glass down to a cost of under $300. And surprisingly, the quality of Samsung’s sapphire glass on the Galaxy Watch 5 beats out the Apple Watch Ultra, which costs nearly three times as much in a new test.
JerryRigEverything on YouTube recently put the $799 Apple Watch Ultra up against the Galaxy Watch 5 and Garmin Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar to see how the sapphire glass quality varies between the different watches.
As avid viewers of Zach’s channel might be familiar with, traditional smartphone glass, which is also used on most smartwatches, tends to scratch at a level 6 on the Moh’s hardness scale with “deeper grooves” at level 7. Sapphire glass, on the other hand, is supposed to scratch at level 8 with those deeper cuts at level 9. For context, diamonds are at a level 10 on the same scale, so sapphire is quite strong when you really think about it.
But like anything, quality matters a lot, and it seems there’s quite a difference between the Apple Watch Ultra versus Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 when you look at the sapphire glass. Zach points out that Apple has been using sapphire for a while but in an impure form.
Using a Diamond Selector tool, the glass from both the Galaxy Watch 5 and Apple Watch Ultra, as well as Garmin’s watch, all are detected as sapphire. But the Moh’s scale reveals that Apple’s version isn’t as pure as Samsung’s. At levels 6 and 7, the Galaxy Watch 5’s sapphire glass “catches,” perhaps due to its coatings, but there’s no actual damage until hitting level 8.
The Garmin passes the same test, though it actually read stronger on the Diamond Selector tool compared to Samsung’s, hinting Garmin might be at a higher purity level.
It’s the Apple Watch Ultra, though, that fails these tests.
The Diamond Selector tool reads the Apple Watch Ultra as using sapphire glass and it reads higher than the Galaxy Watch 5, but the Moh’s scale tells the full story. At level 6, there are some light markings, and deeper ones at level 7. Level 8 then shows the same damage as the other two.
You can see the whole video below, and check out our Galaxy Watch 5 review here.
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