New Apple store in Sydney - largest laminated glass in the world?

Factual Questions
1

Apple is opening a new shop in Sydney today. It’s right opposite the building where I work. So I’ve had a good view of its construction and the build up for the opening, including the people who have been queueing for the last few days to be the first into the shop.

In today’s paper I noticed this claim by Apple:

I’m always suspicious of this sort of marketing hyperbole. The glass frontage is impressive, but to my eyes no larger than I’ve seen on buildings elsewhere in the world. Does anyone know what the record might be? Is this claim by Apple true, or just marketing crap?

2

It probably is true.

In 2003, 2.5 x 6 meters was just about the biggest piece of laminated glass on the planet.

Five years later, Apple’s glass is two and a half times taller.

3

The Grand Canyon west Skywalk might give those panels a run for their money:
The two-inch thick glass decking, approximately 10 feet wide and 70 feet deep, is made of a multilayer glass construction including three SentryGlas Plus® structural interlayers and four layers of Saint-Gobain Diamant glass
If it’s of a single piece, that’s 65.03 square meters, which compares favorably to Apple’s 700/16 = 43.75 square meter panels.

4

Interesting. Thanks for the responses.

5

Apple obsesses over style once again.

6

And shifts truckloads of product as a consequence. Hard to argue with that.

7

The shop just opened a few minutes ago. There are crowds of the Apple faithful in attendance.