A new rumor has popped up from ETNews.com, a Korean website which is claiming that Apple will utilize Liquidmetal alloys in the iPhone to make it even more resistant to damage and breaking. The site is suggesting that the next generation iPhone will have rear panel that is made entirely of a new alloy, termed liquid metal in the report, with Apple ditching the current glass rear panel construction.
Apple purchased the rights to use Liquidmetal in 2010, a hard wearing material that is very durable, has a high tensile strength, and is hard wearing. It was unclear what Apple was going to use the material in initially, but many people had thought that it would emerge at some point in the casings for an iPhone, an iPad or even in the MacBook line-up.
While the source of the rumor is questionable, it’s pretty interesting to think about how it could be implemented, and certainly, rumors of an iPhone with a metal rear panel have circulated for some time. One rumor even suggested that the iPhone 5 would ship with with a thin Liquidmetal coating that would allow for saturation of the casing with metallic colors, meaning that a next generation device might not just come in black and white.
The rumor also suggests that the new device would launch in June in WWDC which is perhaps a little unlikely, given the ‘relatively’ recent launch of the iPhone 4S. But…stranger things have happened.
Durable…