Apple Job Listing for Plastics Design Engineer Hints at Innovative Designs for Future Products

mdriftmeyer said:

In short, we need specialists in designing model forms for us to prototype future products.

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I don't get the point of this thread and why it's on the front page. Slow news day I guess. I'm sure if someone combed through Apple's job reqs they could find all sorts of things to speculate on. There was one posted a couple weeks ago from the ID team looking for a color specialist. Do we start rumors now about colors plastic iPhones?

https://jobs.apple.com/us/search?#&ss=Color&t=1&so=&lo=0*USA&pN=0&openJobId=25904843

bobenhaus said:

Go ahead and hold you breath if you think Apple wont be using plastic for phones or other devices in the future.

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Did you not see the faces?



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LeandrodaFL said:

Maybe they are returning the white macbook? Giving color to the iMac?

I would love to see a computer like these ones running MacOS

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They did do that, in the late 90s with the iBook. Except better

Apple, a major consumer electronics company, posts a single position for a plastics engineer and you guys make the leap that this is supportive of some new company initiative?

Wow.

gkarris said:

These phones make for cheap unlocked phones directly from Apple, as it is illegal for users to unlock smartphones in the US. $299 to start?

People here are looking forward to AT&T unlocking their iPhones when their contract is up - little do they know the carrier is no longer obligated to do so...

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but AT&T never said they wouldn't unlock your phone when your contract is up...I'm willing to bet if you ask nicely they will...after you complete your contract of course

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mrsir2009 said:

Maybe that’s because you can’t take the back cover off the 3GS.

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he said GS3 cover

goes around, come around)))
we really have to be careful when picking our "magical" words )))

Premium1 said:

and apple isn't "giving away devices?" last I checked the 3gs and now the 4 are being given away.

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Incorrect.

Apple gets the full retail price for every phone they sell. Apple isn't giving anything away.

What you're referring to is the CARRIERS giving phones away... in exchange for 2 years on contract.

To review: Apple doesn't give anything away.... the carriers do.

This position could have nothing to do with products and everything to do with designing prototypes and/or in-house work.

Oh boy, GM penny-pinchers..... Can't wait to see Apple's version of embossed vinyl = stitched leather.

Its the whole manufacturing cost...

An iphone doesn't have that much aluminium in it that the raw material is a major cost driver.

But the cost of machining those cases has got to be pretty high. And once they are machined they have to be handled carefully so they don't scratch. And there is a whole host of other issues that the metal form factor raises.

Going to plastic is not just about cost of materials, it is about reducing time to market and the whole cost of the product. I would expect apple to be looking really seriously at plastic cases even if they never ever intend to build a plastic iphone. They have to understand the cost drivers for the Android phones.

Carbon fiber is the up and coming material right now. If someone cracks a cheap way to make carbon fiber the whole materials field will suddenly change. pretty much everything we currently use metal for out of preference will become carbon fiber - like cars.

SlCKB0Y said:

Duh!! It's durable, beautiful, innovative and magical with pixies and unicorns when Apple uses it. When Samsung uses it, plastic is just cheap crap.

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you're assuming they're going to use the plastic for body work. could be for anything.

Rogifan said:

There was one posted a couple weeks ago from the ID team looking for a color specialist.
Do we start rumors now about colors plastic iPhones?

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Yeah baby, iColors.
Have you seen the new range of CTO Pentax Q10 cameras?
Imagine colorful iGizmos to replace the boring black, white and silver.

http://www.pentaximaging.com/Q10studio#/13/5

Why would they make plastic iPhones? Think about if iPod touch is not plastic, if ipad Mini (a budget device) is not plastic, there really is no need. It's probably for something small like a new adapter design or something else irrelevant. Apple can make $250 iPhone if it wants ($350 first than sell the last year model for discount) and crush android, but they would crush their own margins.

Premium1 said:

and apple isn't "giving away devices?" last I checked the 3gs and now the 4 are being given away. Plus what does google advertising have anything to do with android being open? Being open means anyone can use it and not have to pay. So sorry you are completely off the mark with your statement about that. Blame the lack of innovation of all the lawsuits *cough* apple* cough where as the smaller corporations feel it's not even worth getting into the market just to be taken out by lawsuits.

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No, Apple is not giving those phones away. Cell phone companies are buying them from Apple and locking customers into a contract.

Also, do you really think Google is not getting something from Android? I am typing on a Nexus 7 right now. Not a bad device, but any time I want to use pretty much any app, I have to use my Google ID to login. Of course Google is collecting data on me while I am logged in. And of course that information is used by Google to deliver ads or other content to me when I search. They have to make money off Android somehow, so I can hardly fault them for it.

Just like some people here think Apple fanboys believe Apple does the things they do for the good of the world, there are Google/Android fanboys who think all of Google's services are simply for the good of mankind. Jeesh!

phonitron said:

I seem to recall reading that the liquidmetal technology worked just fine with radio signals... Something to do with the alloy blend iirc?

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Find the link, and post it.

The "I think I read somewhere that xxxx" posts are some of the most worthless messages here.

Please either back up your statements, or don't waste the collective bandwidth.

Bubba Satori said:

Yeah baby, iColors.
Have you seen the new range of CTO Pentax Q10 cameras?
Imagine colorful iGizmos to replace the boring black, white and silver.
Image
http://www.pentaximaging.com/Q10studio#/13/5

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Holy crap there's one for each Avenger in there.

Hello there iTV (Or maybe a mouse that isnt a slab of plastic with no design thoughts put into it?)

Personally feel the 2009/2010 unibody polycarbonate Macbook is one of the best looking designs they have had, sans the awkward non-slip bottom. Give me a current gen i5/i7 in a 13" 2009 body with the 2009+ Macbook Pro bottom (yet plastic) and it might quench my need to replace hardware on a whim so often.

SAD*FACED*CLOWN said:

he said GS3 cover

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Yeah, exactly. The GS3 back cover was creaky, he said, whilst the iPhone 3GS was not creaky. I pointed out that the 3GS doesn't have a back cover, so you can't really compare taking the back cover off the GS3 to using the 3GS.

Krazy Bill said:

I dunno folks... I look at my 4S and marvel at the precision machine engineering that went into the thing.

Plastic meh. Give me rubber... something that bounces on concrete.

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I agree. I do not find plastic appealing except on the iMac G5, which looks more friendly than the modern iMac. The MacBook Pros look so much better than the MacBooks. I think a plastic iPhone would be OK but not as good as the nice glass-and-aluminum ones. The iPhone 4 + black bumper case has the right amount of plastic. It looks amazing.

ghost187 said:

Why would they make plastic iPhones? Think about if iPod touch is not plastic, if ipad Mini (a budget device) is not plastic, there really is no need. It's probably for something small like a new adapter design or something else irrelevant. Apple can make $250 iPhone if it wants ($350 first than sell the last year model for discount) and crush android, but they would crush their own margins.

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Except the iPad Mini is not a budget device any more than the 11" MBA or the 13" MBP is a budget device.

Maybe they'll call it iPhone Classic?

Premium1 said:

and apple isn't "giving away devices?" last I checked the 3gs and now the 4 are being given away. Plus what does google advertising have anything to do with android being open? Being open means anyone can use it and not have to pay. So sorry you are completely off the mark with your statement about that. Blame the lack of innovation of all the lawsuits *cough* apple* cough where as the smaller corporations feel it's not even worth getting into the market just to be taken out by lawsuits.

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You've got to be kidding me! If the iPhone 4 was free, I'd take ∞ even to sell most of them for parts. No, the iPhone 4 and 3GS are most definitely not free, nor is the iPhone 1 unless you find it in a recycling bin like I did.

Also, the little corporations involved in lawsuits with Apple, Google, and MS are patent trolls and sketchy knockoff companies. Remember that Brazilian phone-maker that made the IPHONE?

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SlCKB0Y said:

Duh!! It's durable, beautiful, innovative and magical with pixies and unicorns when Apple uses it. When Samsung uses it, plastic is just cheap crap.

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It's a somewhat cheap material no matter who uses it, and when it gets scratched just a little bit just from being worn down, it looks horrible. Tiny scratches on glass aren't really noticeable. I wouldn't want Apple to return to plastic. Look at the MacBook then at the MacBook Pro...

mrsir2009 said:

Except the iPad Mini is not a budget device any more than the 11" MBA or the 13" MBP is a budget device.

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I don't see how it is NOT a budget device. $329 for a 7.9 inch premium tablet that will likely be sold for $249 when the next years retina models come out. Besides the Kindle and the Nexus tablets which are designed to be sold for little or no profit, all other $199 tablets low end specs and build. And 7.9 inch tablet with a 4:3 aspect ratio is more like a 8.5 inch tablet with a 16:10 ratio tablet (the same way the 9.5 inch iPad has actually bigger screen area vs the 10.1 inch tablets from the competition).

I know a lot of users here like to call others "fanboys" for not liking plastic, but Apple has tried plastic before. It doesn't work for mobile devices, especially when it's WHITE plastic. The white MacBooks look terrible after a while. Plastic turns a yellow-wish color after a while and/or smells bad. And for all plastic, the inevitable tiny scratches that appear over time make it look horrible.

Plus it feels cheap. Sorry if you have a plastic 'Droid or an iPhone with a plastic case, but I think those feel cheap.

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ghost187 said:

I don't see how it is NOT a budget device. $329 for a 7.9 inch premium tablet that will likely be sold for $249 when the next years retina models come out. Besides the Kindle and the Nexus tablets which are designed to be sold for little or no profit, all other $199 tablets low end specs and build. And 7.9 inch tablet with a 4:3 aspect ratio is more like a 8.5 inch tablet with a 16:10 ratio tablet (the same way the 9.5 inch iPad has actually bigger screen area vs the 10.1 inch tablets from the competition).

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A budget device is a $100 netbook or tablet that's being sold at a loss because it sucks. Or a used 2006 MacBook.

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bobenhaus said:

Go ahead and hold you breath if you think Apple wont be using plastic for phones or other devices in the future.

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That doesn't make sense unless you're instructing the doubtful to commit suicide.

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iGrip said:

The thing about plastic is that it feels so cheap and crappy in the hand. That is why all those Android Phones are so nasty to hold - they are made of plastic.

Aluminum and brushed stainless are the materials that make Apple products worth the money.

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...Or the better OS. But the better materials help. Even the 3GS is pretty crappy.

I would not mind a matte, soft touch polycarbonate design.