Corning said this week it had started to ship Corning Gorilla glass 2 to key device makers who plan to utilize the glass in new consumer electronics devices planned for release in 2012. The new glass will allow makers of various devices, such as smartphones and media tablets, to make slimmer products without sacrificing their durability.

Corning Gorilla glass 2 is the next generation of the widely accepted damage-resistant cover glass for consumer electronic devices, enabling up to 20% reduction in cover glass thickness without sacrificing the performance consumers have come to expect from the world’s most widely deployed strengthened cover glass. The original Gorilla glass used by more than 30 major brands and has been designed into more than 600 product models, spanning over 600 million units worldwide.

The glass manufacturer did not reveal which companies plan to use Gorilla 2 glass in the future products, but is likely to expect that it will be used in such highly-anticipated devices like Apple iPad 3 and iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung Galaxy Tab and others.

“Since we launched Gorilla Glass 2 just last month at CES, we’ve qualified the glass with more than half of our current customers, and have shipped our first orders to customers who plan to start production and release product in the first quarter this year,” said David R. Velasquez, global director of marketing and commercial operations at Corning.

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