Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Renews Exclusive Rights to Liquidmetal Technologies' Alloys
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
So the day they actually build a T-1000 out of it is near then? 
![3151271-2634878693-t1000.jpg]()
If it replaces "That would not have happened under Steve Jobs", then I am completely happy.oh god
Well obviously the technology isn't where Apple wants it yet. We don't want it in our devices if it's going to perform poorly. People will lose their minds, lol.
Isn't this material supposed to be radio transparent as well so we can have a seamless unibody design? I also thought I read somewhere that you can put some kind of pigments into the material to give it color that can't be scratched off, but maybe that as something unrelated. If that did work, could you image the Apple Watch possibilities? Crazy.
I'm hopeful the iPhone 7 redesign will see this material used. Imagine a stronger, lighter, seamless iPhone, using a sapphire coating bonded to a gorilla glass substrate. I hope they keep it nearly the same thickness because it's going to get difficult to hold if they make it much thinner. Leave room for more battery! My Plus is fine but I want to move down in size. I want Plus battery life in a 4-5" model. They also need to remove the camera bump, nix the home button in favor of Touch ID across the entire display using Force Touch (Force Touch to go home? Multiple levels of Force Touch?), and introduce inductive charging. Reduced bezels in four sizes: 4", 5", 6" with 32GB, 64GB and 128GB sizes. Boom, make it happen! Would be an epic redesign.
Isn't this material supposed to be radio transparent as well so we can have a seamless unibody design? I also thought I read somewhere that you can put some kind of pigments into the material to give it color that can't be scratched off, but maybe that as something unrelated. If that did work, could you image the Apple Watch possibilities? Crazy.
I'm hopeful the iPhone 7 redesign will see this material used. Imagine a stronger, lighter, seamless iPhone, using a sapphire coating bonded to a gorilla glass substrate. I hope they keep it nearly the same thickness because it's going to get difficult to hold if they make it much thinner. Leave room for more battery! My Plus is fine but I want to move down in size. I want Plus battery life in a 4-5" model. They also need to remove the camera bump, nix the home button in favor of Touch ID across the entire display using Force Touch (Force Touch to go home? Multiple levels of Force Touch?), and introduce inductive charging. Reduced bezels in four sizes: 4", 5", 6" with 32GB, 64GB and 128GB sizes. Boom, make it happen! Would be an epic redesign.
Well, perhaps they are wondering too? It's not like anyone here in the forum has any innovative ideas other than "Why isn't Apple doing something coooooooool?"
oh god
I hope not, I've just about buried the 'Safari seems snappier' memory.
It is beginning to look that way.Or maybe the Apple Car will be Liquid Metal.
Why? What did you do with it? Throw it away? If it bums you out so much, you should take better care of your stuff.
Mine still sits securely in my iPhone 6+ box. I can sell it to you for $50, if you wish. I do have paper clips available, and to be frank, the metal feels kinda cheap. But hey, if it makes people so sad not to have it and so excited to own it...
So what exactly is so great about liquid metal and what should Apple be doing with it? I always hear people lamenting Apple not doing more with it but no one says exaxtly what it's good for. One would assume if they could make iPhone, iPad or Mac unibody casings out of it and it wasn't prohibitively expensive they'd already be doing it. Apple doesn't seem like the kind of company to sit on some cool new manufacturing technology or material for no reason.
Pretty much my thought/question. They've had the exclusive agreement in place for several years and not done anything with it. If LiquidMetal is that good let's make something spectacular with it. If it's not, why keep the exclusive license in place? Let the others do something unspectacular with it.
I wonder too. The SIM removal tool feels like it's stamped out of cheap sheet metal. Yes, once you mess around with it, you realize that it's quite sturdy. But it still feels cheap. I don't want my Watch or iPhone made out of this stuff.
So I'm guessing the math comes out to something like $1,000 per SIM removal tool.
Unless you buy an unlocked device, we don't even get SIM tools in the US. And you can get a crapload of them on ebay for a few dollars, anyway - or just use a paper clip. Hardly worth the cost of the LiquidMetal license for that. There has to be more to it.
Yeh that's the impression I'm getting. Such a waste.
I'm not implying I'd know what to do with it, but I'm sure there are people out there that could use it for something cool.
You know, the whole thing with Taylor Swift's open letter wouldn't have happened under Steve Jobs. >_>
<_<
So, imagine that you ship a half million devices a day. Now imagine scaling up the equipment for Liquidmetal molding to build at least half a million devices per day.
When Apple originally licensed the material, there was a single, barely production capable machine. I'll speculate that the machines, and the process are extremely difficult, but worth continuing development.
When Apple originally licensed the material, there was a single, barely production capable machine. I'll speculate that the machines, and the process are extremely difficult, but worth continuing development.
Sometimes I think this too, that it's all just part of Jobs' "thermonuclear war" legacy that started in 2010.
After all, Samsung started using LiquidMetal in their phones back in 2002, and even made a luxury phone entirely out of it in 2008.
Nope, the idea that it's radio transparent is a misunderstanding.
One of the inventors was being interviewed and commented that maybe its electrical conductance could be enhanced so it could be used as a full body antenna for an all metal phone (like happened later with the HTC One and then the iPhone).
A few people ignored the part about the metal being the antenna, and started spreading the false rumor that it let radio waves through. As usual, the internet never corrected itself.
LiquidMetal is just a trademark name. It has nothing in common with the Terminator
and it's not mirror like or liquid at all. It actually normally looks more like pewter, unless you polish it up.The name really should be more like "plastic metal", because it's mostly good for being able to be molded very easily, and absorb scratches and bending. Which is why Samsung used it for hinges and bezels in their phones.
Last edited: