Numerous tablets and smartphones have been sporting beautiful, tough glass surfaces for the past several years. While glass might have initially seemed like an odd choice for a mobile device, since it’s inevitable that it will get banged around with use, Gorilla Glass isn’t your ordinary piece of fragile hardware.

Made by Corning Inc., Gorilla Glass is able to withstand up to 122 pounds of force. This is double the durability of many tempered glasses on the market. The unique strength of Gorilla Glass is what led Steve Jobs to begin using it for the iPhone back in 2007. Prior to this shift, Jobs had been using plastic screens for his iconic iPod line.

To show his gratitude and appreciation for Gorilla Glass’ contribution in the widely lauded design accolades heaped on the iPhone, Jobs sent a framed memento to Corning CEO Wendell Weeks after the successful launch of the smartphone that said, “We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Now take all of the amazing elegance, strength and durability of the original Gorilla Glass and imagine it being 20 percent thinner. That’s what you have in Gorilla Glass 2, which is slated for a rollout in notebooks, tablets and smartphones this year.

Small Biz Go Mobile writers attended CES and had the opportunity to get a firsthand demo of the capabilities of Gorilla Glass 2 themselves. Jon Pesansky, a senior product engineer at Corning, showed how well the new Gorilla Glass 2 stacked up against its predecessor and other forms of treated glass. Let’s just say that the results of the stress test prove that Gorilla Glass 2 is in a class of its own. And the mobile devices of 2012 and beyond can be thinner and sleeker without sacrificing an ounce of sturdiness.

The first devices slated to receive the Gorilla Glass 2 treatment are Windows-powered notebooks.

James R. Steiner, senior vice president and general manager, Corning Specialty Materials, elaborated a little more in a recent press release on the product.

“You will see [Gorilla Glass 2] early this year with Windows-based PCs which we expect to be the first in-market laptops designed to leverage the performance of our new second-generation glass,” Steiner remarked.

For more information on Gorilla Glass 2, read the full story on Small Biz Go Mobile.