“The move for high-end smartphones is now firmly into the exotic. The iPhone has changed from plastic to metal and glass, it has tapered, then rounded and squared out, in its brief life. What next for the diminutive device?” Chris Knight asks for CMSWire. “Certain factors dictate the basics of its shape, but with endless budget and a reputation to uphold, Sir Jony Ive and his laboratory elves will be looking to do something different for the next model to keep iPhone firmly on top of the pile and a “must have” icon rather than just a ‘could have’ gadget… While [ceramics] have a reputation as a brittle substance, advances in construction and coatings are likely to have overcome this and silicon nitride ceramics are claimed to be light and easy to hold, something of an advantage over those slippery shiny surfaces.”

“Apple has patents in the technology and a commercial arrangement with LiquidMetal Technologies, the company spun to sell CalTech’s original invention. The resulting alloy is described as thin, light and highly resistant to external impacts, being harder than titanium,” Knight reports. “Since Samsung is going with ceramics, this could be Apple’s way of retaining a unique design feature and seems the favorite material for the new iPhone. A unibody design is something that more phone makers are using and will help reduce costs. Liquidmetal can be molded into such a structure. It can also handle heat better than traditional metals, key as Apple tries to cram ever faster components inside.”

Knight reports, “The final element of the phone’s exterior is the glass and screen. While we might be a few years away from the metallic glass created at the University of Berkelely, Apple is looking at advances from the likes of Corning (who showed off its latest wares in China last month) and others to produce, a stronger, lighter screen.”

Read more in the full article here.

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