A report from a South Korean tech website is quoting "industry sources" saying the next-generation iPhone will have a "liquid metal" casing.
Here's the quote from etnews:
"...iPhone5 is likely to take liquid metal, an alloy of zirconium, titanium, nickel, copper and so forth having an outer surface smooth like liquid. The new iPhone is expected to make its debut at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco in June".Don't get too excited. Liquid metal isn't actually liquid...or anything like liquid. It's a super strong and light alloy. And it's quite possible that the iPhone 5 may be made of the alloy.
A few years ago Apple apparently paid $20m to a company called Liquidmetal Technologies for the exclusive use of one of its alloy products.
In fact, the alloy has already been used in current iPhones. Well, in iPhone boxes, anyway. It's used to make the SIM-card ejector tool that comes with the device.
So, have a look at that prodder and you'll get a better idea of what liquid metal is like.
It's interesting that etnews also says the iPhone 5 is expected to be announced at this year's Apple Worldwide Developers' Conference. That's where iPhones used to be announced and it would be a return to form. There's no official date yet for the 2012 conference, but it's usually held in June, which seems a bit early in the year for an announcement. Our money is still on an October launch.
(Source: etnews)
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