And the iPhone rumors just never seem to stop. The talk around the new iPhone 6 has been a bigger 4.7″ screen with some rumors even stating a 5.5″ screen as well as a curved display. Now Patently Apple has just uncovered a patent that may indicate Apple is ready to make it’s next iPhone with it’s purchased Liquidmetal technology. So what is Liquidmetal? The folks over at Gizmodo posted a good explanation back in 2010 when Apple obtained the technology.
Gizmodo
The scientific definition of Liquidmetal goes something like this: Liquidmetal is a member of a class of metal alloys known formally as bulk metallic glasses—because the material shares some properties most closely associated with glass, like impact brittleness, and, instead of a fixed melting point, a gradual loss of integrity at higher temperature. It’s a mixture of stuff you’ve probably heard of: copper, titanium, aluminum and nickel. So yeah, fundamentally, it’s just atype of stuff, like a polymer, an aluminum alloy, or a glass.
The secret’s in how it’s made: Instead of simply mixing the alloy and letting it cool, amorphous alloys are cooled more quickly. This changes their atomic structures, in turn altering their basic properties. Ordinary metals typically have crystalline, ordered atomic structures, and therefore tend to deform when struck or flexed; amophous alloys are made of chaotic, unordered atoms, which tend to spring back into shape, more like a liquid. (Most metals have directional grains, like wood. Liquidmetal doesn’t.)
Head over to Gizmodo for more on Liquidmetal
So now we have the iPhone 6 coming in with a 4.7″-5.5″ curved, flexible display and liquidmetal technology. I’m a little dizzy from all the rumors flying around today. Here’s what Apple’s patent summary says.
Apple Patent Summary
A proposed solution according to embodiments herein is to provide a consumer electronics device housing or frame made from a bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy core in which at least a portion of the housing or frame is clad in a ductile material. In accordance with one embodiment, there is provided a consumer electronics device having a housing including at least a bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy, at least one input/output port or jack, and a ductile coating at least over the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy adjacent the at least one input/output port or jack.
In accordance with another embodiment, there is provided a method of making a housing for a consumer electronics device that includes forming the housing from at least a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy, the housing including at least one input/output port or jack. The method also includes positioning a ductile material adjacent the at least one input/output port or jack, and then joining the ductile material to the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy.
In accordance with another embodiment, there is provided a method of making a housing for a consumer electronics device that includes forming the housing from at least a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy, the housing including at least one input/output port or jack. The method also includes coating a ductile material on the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy in at least the area of the bulk-solidifying amorphous alloy that is adjacent to the at least one input/output port or jack.
This Monday is shaping up to be the Monday filled with rumors. But if any of this is true, the bigger curved display and liquidmetal tech. Then Apple is going to have a very interesting piece of hardware coming next year. Hit the link below for sources.
Last Updated on January 23, 2017.
