Apple Interested in Liquidmetal Alloys for Home Buttons, Touch Sensors, and Tamper-Resistant Screws

[AndyUnderscoreR]

As I understand it, the button is made out of a strain-gauge. I don't think that's how current push-buttons are implemented.

That would also make the button pressure-sensitive, if you wanted that.

Sounds exactly like the buttons in playstation controllers to me.

 

[springsup]

Not that early.

2002 - Samsung began using Liquidmetal in their phones for items like bezels and hinges.

2004 - Vertu made their Ascent phone line out of LM.

2008 - Samsung made a similar luxury phone called the Ego, with an LM chassis.

2010 - Apple purchases exclusive consumer electronics use of all LM intellectual property created up to 2012.

2012 - Apple extends IP license terms to include up to February 2014.

I sometimes wonder if Apple invested in them just to keep the tech out of other company's hands, like they did with AuthenTec, whose fingerprint sensors had been used for many years by other phone makers.

Yes, well in the case of AuthenTec, Apple wanted exclusive use of the fingerprint sensors and related IP as it was a major selling point of their flagship product. If they didn't but them, Samsung and HTC would have bought those components and begun integrating them within weeks of the iPhone 5S' launch, and it would only have been a matter of time before them or Google bought the company themselves. Lots of companies buy other companies because they want to own their products. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, per se.

I didn't know about the previous use of LM, but if Apple were that serious about wanting it they could also buy that company. Money isn't a problem, and building products that nobody else can is how Apple have always worked. They could operate it as a fully-owned subsidiary and continue selling licenses for non-CE applications.

Apple don't seem to like to go down that route, though. Unless the entire business can fully integrate with what Apple already does, they prefer joint ventures and exclusive licensing to taking ownership (as with the recent Sapphire plant). They could easily be a Samsung-style conglomerate if they wanted to, but they prefer to focus on what they do.

 

[sclawis300]

I think the point is that with the tamper resistant screws, you DON'T service them. Neither does Apple. The device is permanently sealed and if you need to repair the device, you throw the device away and get a new one.

I think out of all of the patents in this story, the tamper resistant screw should set off the most alarm bells.

If this were true, they wouldn't use screws or they would use screws that already exist that can't be unscrewed. No need to go through all this trouble.

 

[Tech198]

there only interested ??

Maybe Apple are getting a bit scared knowing iFix know how to take these apart and sell the bits needed..

ya,, ok.. "tamper-proof" .. good luck with that....

Apple can keep thinking this, but the rest of us will get round it..

They said the same thing about the pentalobular. ..

.....till driver bits became available...

The same will happen here...

Me thinks, also Apple's not happy with what they've done with Touch ID... I know its not supposed to be perfect. but Apple's taking this as a "stronger" method of authentication.. For something that supposed to be stronger that doesn't work most of the time, that's not good ....

 

[bwillwall]

Are you saying my wife should push my home button less to make me more responsive?

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To all concerned about the temper resistant screws:

If it is made by humans it can be solved by humans.

So, no matter what these screws will be defeated by us.

Worst case we re-drill and put in another kind of screw or we'll check the 526,917 possibilities on You Tube.
Not to worry. Anybody who tinkers will not be distraught by this.

Possible or not it's not something I want them to purposely make difficult..

 

[Cole Slaw]

Liquidmetal.
Thank God such an amazing technology is available for such a mission critical item like the SIM card tray opening tool.

 

[Pakaku]

If the point is for it not to be serviceable at all, why even use a fastener with a head? Why not a rivet or a weld?

Why not copious amounts of glue?

 

[EvilQueen]

My guess is that they'd never implement such a practice as it would be seen as extremely anti-consumer.

I don't know about that.




I think tamper-resistant screws is a bad idea, but I can see Apple doing it so you can't open the device.

 

[Thunderhawks]

Possible or not it's not something I want them to purposely make difficult..

Just how often does the average consumer have to (or even want to) open their iPhones , iPads etc.?

Those who do are clearly a minority, which Apple doesn't cater to.

 

[639051]

Just how often does the average consumer have to (or even want to) open their iPhones , iPads etc.?

Those who do are clearly a minority, which Apple doesn't cater to.

Welp, they're losing me as a customer. I don't care one iota about if someone else would like to open the device or not. Power grabs like this are the straw that broke the camels back. This is so anti consumer it should be illegal, but thankfully since it isn't and will never be (thanks big business!) I can still vote with my wallet.

Looks like my next phone is back to Android.

 

[castlerock]

Sim card tray remover was liquid metal. Pretty sure the tray was plastic.

Sim tray eject tool. Otherwise known as "a paperclip". Someone at Apple must have really been bored to source an exotic alloy for such a mundane tool.
http://cdn.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/confused.gif

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It does say permanent. So perhaps they would look for evidence of tampering as a reason to disqualify warranty claims? My guess is that they'd never implement such a practice as it would be seen as extremely anti-consumer.

Perhaps there is another plan, such as with a special fixture (or perhaps heating method for metal expansion/contraction) that allows the screws to release for service.

However, just because you patent something does not mean you intend to use it.

Considering the trajectory of Apple's latest products, I wouldn't be so sure. As it is, the Retina MacBook Pro is essentially completely user-unserviceable since everything is jam-packed, soldered-in, and glued together.

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So wait, is this to try to keep people from doing things like repairing their iPhone themselves?

Yes.

What's with the tamper resistant screws?

So only Apple can service the device because only they will have replacement tamper-resistant screws. (I.e. you break them when you remove them.) Until a shipment of them falls off the back of a truck and you find the replacements for $5 on Ebay (free shipping with China Post!) Or something.

 

[Iconoclysm]

I think the point is that with the tamper resistant screws, you DON'T service them. Neither does Apple. The device is permanently sealed and if you need to repair the device, you throw the device away and get a new one.

I think out of all of the patents in this story, the tamper resistant screw should set off the most alarm bells.

If that were the case, why not just weld the device shut? Apple would never plan to make a device that is thrown away rather than recycled, that's not their MO.

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And to think, once upon a time Apple touted itself as being "Green".

When in reality they influenced the competition in the smartphone sector to eliminate battery doors and removeable easily replaced batteries.

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Home button failures are profitable for Apple.

You're responding as if this were truly the intention or that Apple are doing something no longer "Green". It's not the intention, and they're actually more green now than ever before.

Not sure what you think removable batteries does to help be ecofriendly - it's more waste.

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I sometimes wonder if Apple invested in them just to keep the tech out of other company's hands, like they did with AuthenTec, whose fingerprint sensors had been used for many years by other phone makers.

They didn't buy AuthenTec to keep the tech out of other companies' hands...and what other phones aside from one Motorola model had fingerprint sensors?

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Welp, they're losing me as a customer. I don't care one iota about if someone else would like to open the device or not. Power grabs like this are the straw that broke the camels back. This is so anti consumer it should be illegal, but thankfully since it isn't and will never be (thanks big business!) I can still vote with my wallet.

Looks like my next phone is back to Android.

It hasn't even happened...wtf?

 

[Thunderhawks]

Welp, they're losing me as a customer. I don't care one iota about if someone else would like to open the device or not. Power grabs like this are the straw that broke the camels back. This is so anti consumer it should be illegal, but thankfully since it isn't and will never be (thanks big business!) I can still vote with my wallet.

Looks like my next phone is back to Android.

You are not even going to wait if this is true?
Only a speculation based on a patent filing.

 

[Oracle1729]

Yes, because Apple don't have thousands of engineers at all. They can only work on thing thing at a time. I imagine that designing these screws is really the cause of why the Mac mini hasn't been updated and why they haven't updated their Thunderbolt Display

You'd think a company like Apple would be able to work on more than one thing at a time, but they don't seem to be able to. Unless you want to say not updating the mac pro for 4 years wall all part of Timmy's master plan. The company can't multitask any better than iOS can.

They obviously don't have the resources to keep their products up to date, yet they have time to patent new tamper resistant screws to make their products worse.

 

[virginblue4]

You'd think a company like Apple would be able to work on more than one thing at a time, but they don't seem to be able to. Unless you want to say not updating the mac pro for 4 years wall all part of Timmy's master plan. The company can't multitask any better than iOS can.

They obviously don't have the resources to keep their products up to date, yet they have time to patent new tamper resistant screws to make their products worse.

Oh please, do you realise how ridiculous you sound? They have thousand of engineers working on huge amounts of products at once. Them not having updated things such as the Mac mini definitely isn't down to not having the resources. And who knows, maybe it was part of the plan? Maybe they just didn't want to update to until they felt it was the right time. Whatever the reason, it wasn't because they were short on resources due to working on these screws.

 

[kdarling]

You'd think a company like Apple would be able to work on more than one thing at a time, but they don't seem to be able to.

Sometimes that's true. Apple has said that they still prefer to run like a lean startup, and shift engineers around as needed.

For example, in 2007, the priority was the iPhone. Apple had to delay the release of Leopard from June to October.

"(To finish the iPhone) we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS X team, and as a result we will not be able to release Leopard at our Worldwide Developers Conference in early June as planned." - Apple press release

Unless you want to say not updating the mac pro for 4 years was all part of Timmy's master plan.

Fans like to think that Apple plans everything far in advance. Often it's quite the opposite. As Fortune put it in their "How Apple works - Inside the world's biggest startup" article:

For Apple the result is an ability to move nimbly, despite its size. "Constant course correction" is how one former executive refers to the approach. "If the executive team decides to change direction, it's instantaneous," this ex-Apple honcho says.

"Everybody thinks it's a grand strategy. It's not."

As an example, Apple's management has been known to change its pricing 48 hours before a product launch.

When it misses a seemingly obvious idea -- such as not anticipating the need for an App Store to satisfy the third-party developers who wanted to create programs for the iPhone -- it shifts gears quickly to grab the opportunity.

 

[PowersFoss]

Lqmt

What's cool is nothing from Apple has been announced product-wise yet regarding their use of liquid metal. The reason I say that's cool is because LQMT's stock price is still very low... like around $0.20/share right now. So you could buy thousands of shares for only a few hundred bucks. Worst case, they go out of business and you lose a couple hundred bucks. Not likely in my humble opinion with a really cool technology that shows really cool promise. (Check out liquid metal's website to see what the brainiacs at Caltech have developed.) More likely, Apple uses liquid metal in an iWatch, iPhone, whatever, and the stock goes up to a few bucks and now you've suddenly made thousands of dollars. Best case, it becomes a truly revolutionary technology that is the only material that is stronger than titanium, lighter than aluminum, and capable of precision injection molding like plastic. This thing could be huge! Imagine if you bought a few thousand shares of LQMT for just a few hundred bucks and they became worth $100/share? Do the math!

 

[NT1440]

Sim tray eject tool. Otherwise known as "a paperclip". Someone at Apple must have really been bored to source an exotic alloy for such a mundane tool.

Nope. This is how Apple ramps up their production methods. Start by manufacturing something that is benign while you learn how to work with the material with obvious plans to produce something else entirely.

You can see this with the sapphire lens they put on the iPhone 5, it was a manufacturing learning process so they could figure out how to make the touch ID, and more than likely sapphire will be the glass on future iPhones. Recent apple patents show they have plans to use sapphire as the mid panel between two pieces of gorilla glass to make one hell of a shatter resistant screen.

Liquid metal is the same process. Buttons, ejector tools, they are ramping up for their "grown metal" process to make the iWatch.

 

[639051]

You are not even going to wait if this is true?
Only a speculation based on a patent filing.

Nope, if they spend the time filing for a patent for something like this I see no reason why they won't begin using it. When it comes to Apple, they do as much as possible to make the device as anti-consumer as possible as far as repairs go. I already picked up a Moto X and ditched the 5S. Among other things I grew quite tired of the instability (I mean come on, I've never used that wording before for iOS) of 7.0 and I have grown tired of waiting for Apple to fix it. 7.0 should have never been released with the number of crashes I experience on a daily basis .. just using things like Safari to browse. Both my 5S and Air do it .. and that's completely unacceptable.

 

[Poisonivy326]

I'm surprised Apple is going with tamper resistant screws. Glue and soldering seem to have worked pretty well in the past and both of those techniques are cheap. This new technology might cut into their profit margins ...

 

[Thunderhawks]

Nope, if they spend the time filing for a patent for something like this I see no reason why they won't begin using it. When it comes to Apple, they do as much as possible to make the device as anti-consumer as possible as far as repairs go. I already picked up a Moto X and ditched the 5S. Among other things I grew quite tired of the instability (I mean come on, I've never used that wording before for iOS) of 7.0 and I have grown tired of waiting for Apple to fix it. 7.0 should have never been released with the number of crashes I experience on a daily basis .. just using things like Safari to browse. Both my 5S and Air do it .. and that's completely unacceptable.

As MR mentions a lot when they report about patent filings: Not every patent Apple files sees the light of day.

Since they create the products , they can make them any way they like. Just like you decided on a Moto X, so can other consumers switch if they don't agree with that approach.

Seems to work for Apple with billions in the bank.

For every Apple product that needs repair there are millions that don't. Why would anybody expect to be able to repair an iPhone? That's got to be the exception.

And Apple doesn't cater to exceptions. How many consumers tinker around in their iPhones or try to repair them?

Get Apple Care and be done. Most common repair has got to be busted screens.
$ 45 in the mall while you shop and again, DONE!

There are only downsides for apple to allow repairs. They'll be in the newspapers with bad press if somebody fixes things wrong, since in USA everything that goes wrong is always somebody else's fault.

Add to that lawsuits over things that would go wrong "repairing" an Apple. product.

Don't know what you were doing with your iPhone, but iOS 7 isn't crashing for me on a daily basis. Granted it needs some work in some areas, but I think you expect too much from a first release and we are already past 7.0.

If we'd have to wait for the perfect version it would never get released.

About the only "crashing" I experience is when I have too many apps open on my 64GB and a certain program won't perform. (128GB should be available shortly)

Say SIRIUS XM (a resource hog and not that great an app)

 

[jamezr]

As MR mentions a lot when they report about patent filings: Not every patent Apple files sees the light of day.

Since they create the products , they can make them any way they like. Just like you decided on a Moto X, so can other consumers switch if they don't agree with that approach.

Seems to work for Apple with billions in the bank.

For every Apple product that needs repair there are millions that don't. Why would anybody expect to be able to repair an iPhone? That's got to be the exception.

And Apple doesn't cater to exceptions. How many consumers tinker around in their iPhones or try to repair them?

Get Apple Care and be done. Most common repair has got to be busted screens.
$ 45 in the mall while you shop and again, DONE!

There are only downsides for apple to allow repairs. They'll be in the newspapers with bad press if somebody fixes things wrong, since in USA everything that goes wrong is always somebody else's fault.

Add to that lawsuits over things that would go wrong "repairing" an Apple. product.

Don't know what you were doing with your iPhone, but iOS 7 isn't crashing for me on a daily basis. Granted it needs some work in some areas, but I think you expect too much from a first release and we are already past 7.0.

If we'd have to wait for the perfect version it would never get released.

About the only "crashing" I experience is when I have too many apps open on my 64GB and a certain program won't perform. (128GB should be available shortly)

Say SIRIUS XM (a resource hog and not that great an app)

I see your point about only having Apple repair your iPhone. They are the experts since theory designed and built and sold you your phone.

But isn't it a little too over the top? What if you just wanted to open and repair your iPhone? What if you paid full price for it and it was not under contract and well just wanted too fix it yourself? Should you be allowed to? What if you just didn't want to take it to an Apple store or there wasn't one within hours of you? What if someone could do it better and cheaper?

What if all car manufacturers made their cars so that ONLY a dealership could repair your car? No matter how old your car was or what was wrong…..only the dealership could repair it. What if car manufacturers made cars tamper proof? What if they made them so that only the deanship could repair them……..and charge whatever they wanted to repair them?

 

[Thunderhawks]

I see your point about only having Apple repair your iPhone. They are the experts since theory designed and built and sold you your phone.

But isn't it a little too over the top?

No, the average consumer wouldn't know what to check inside an iPhone or for that matter what they are looking at.
They'll probably just marvel about all the stuff in there and wonder how they get it all into such a small package.

What if you just wanted to open and repair your iPhone?

What if you paid full price for it and it was not under contract and well just wanted too fix it yourself?

What part do you want to fix yourself?
You can still do that if you are technically inclined, although it isn't easy, but that wouldn't discourage a tinkerer.

Should you be allowed to?
You are allowed to do anything to that phone you want to.

What if you just didn't want to take it to an Apple store or there wasn't one within hours of you?

Mail it in.

What if someone could do it better and cheaper?

Go there! Plenty of service providers online.

What if all car manufacturers made their cars so that ONLY a dealership could repair your car? No matter how old your car was or what was wrong…..only the dealership could repair it. What if car manufacturers made cars tamper proof? What if they made them so that only the deanship could repair them……..and charge whatever they wanted to repair them?

I have fixed (and wrecked) many an Apple product since 1984. Besides getting parts (headache) and manuals, I don't see where there is a benefit for Apple to get involved with making DIY repair products.

The dumb stuff people do (Say repair a product with electricity plugged in, open laser products) cannot be controlled and the legal issue alone (Um, there was no warning sticker telling me not to stick my finger in there and now i's missing) is worth controlling product access.

And sorry, if I don't get why they should cater to a minority.

Anybody who is really good at this or wants to try can repair their own iPhone with iFixit and Youtube support now.

As to your car analogy: Anybody who "repairs" cars is usually trained and does it for a living and knows what they are doing. (one hopes)

Although I could , I don't fix my brakes. Since I don't do it every day I do not have the tools or know all the ins and outs. Why would I want to learn something for a one time task?

And, let's not act as if an iPhone needs to be repaired every five minutes.

After many iPhone generations I have checked and thought about broken glass repair DIY. (Easier done at a mall as I wrote) and battery replacement.

Maybe a dead home button spring, would be okay to replace, but then again the effort to get parts and not being that expert never makes me do it.

There is another benefit to having it repaired by Apple. They check all of what is sent in and sometimes give you a good deal when replacement for an out of Apple Care product is the last option.
They are very generous (at least have been with my family).

For those with DYI repairability important, just don't buy Apple products.

 

[639051]

For those with DYI repairability important, just don't buy Apple products.

Which is what I have done.

I don't care what MR reports as far as why Apple files a patent. I see Apple moving to be more anti-consumer (which they have done over and over for repairability) and I want no part of it.

I still have my iPad Air, but I doubt I will buy another one.

The SHOULD be generous considering the price paid for the iPhone. You act as if they are doing a public service by offering fair pricing when in fact it should be the norm for any company.

 

[PowersFoss]

AAPL and LQMT

It is also worth noting that Apple and Liquidmetal have formed a company called Crucible to share in all the patents that are created by both companies. This agreement to contribute to and share in the IP was extended through Feb 2014. So it should be coming up for an extension shortly. Very odd to form this company and pour in a bunch of r&d for technology that won't be used. With all the latest Apple liquidmetal patents, my bet is Apple plans to get their money's worth out of the deal and we will hear about product plans/announcements in the coming months. See: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1966901-the-long-case-for-liquidmetal-technologies

And you can believe that once Apple does it, the others will follow. "What's that you say? Samsung's putting a fingerprint reader in the Galaxy S5?" Of course, Samsung won't be able to copy Apple this time. Apple has an exclusive license with Liquidmetal. But that applies only to the consumer electronics industry. Nothing wrong with BMW, Mercedes, or Tesla Motors using Liquidmetal. As the Seeking Alpha article suggests, the medical industry could replace titanium with something lighter, stronger, and more easily formed into complex shapes... Liquidmetal.

And if Apple can get Liquidmetal to worth with 3D printing...? Game over! Ahh... it's starting to feel real good to be a shareholder in LQMT!