Smartphone and tablet glass panel maker Corning is dissing sapphire glass as a protective material. But why all the hate for Sapphire? Well, it looks like Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Inc. is ditching Corning's ubiquitous Gorilla Glass brand in favor of the sapphire glass. Apple is always on the cutting-edge when it comes to implementing diverse and groundbreaking manufacturing processes, so it would come a no surprise to see the tech giant betting big on sapphire.

Besides losing millions, if not billions over the long run, in business from Apple Inc., what is Corning so pissed off about? Well, they are calling calling sapphire glass "not attractive" and says its implementation in future devices (specifically the iPhone 6) will contribute to "shorter battery life."

A Corning Senior Vice President by the name of Tony Tripeny had this to say about the rumored iPhone 6 display material during a conference call on Tuesday:

"When we look at it, we see a lot of disadvantages of sapphire versus Gorilla Glass," Tripeny said. "It's about 10 times more expensive. It's about 1.6 times heavier. It's environmentally unfriendly. It takes about 100 times more energy to generate a sapphire crystal than it does glass."

He's really bringing down the hammer! Could it be that Apple wants to charge more money for its uber popular line of iDevices including sapphire? Or is Corning blowing smoke and lying about the cost difference between Gorilla Glass and sapphire glass? It's too early to tell, but I wouldn't expect a massive price hike for the iPhone 6 stemming from the glass. Any increase in price would likely correlate with the decision to increase the iPhone 6's display from 4 inches to 5 or more inches.

But Tripeny wasn't done bashing sapphire! He went on to say that:

"[Sapphire glass] transmits less light which ... means either dimmer devices or shorter battery life. It continues to break. I think while it's a scratch resistant product it still breaks and our testing says that Gorilla Glass [can take] about 2.5 times more pressure that it can take ... Sapphire on. So when we look at it, we think from an overall industry and trend that is not attractive in consumer electronics."

Harsh words!

So would you buy an iPhone 6 if it included a sapphire panel rather than the industry standard Gorilla Glass? Let us know in the comments section below.