Although there's no denying that Apple's smartphones are incredibly well made, they're not as tough as some people would like them to be. That could all be set to change, as Apple looks to toughen up its products using liquid metal.
Using liquid metal in new phones, such as the iPhone 6, would encase the handset in a super-tough material that would be a lot harder to break.
According to Patently Apple, Apple has now put in five new liquid metal patents.
One patent describes how bulk metallic glasses (BMG, or liquid metal as it is better known), can be layered on top of each other to construct parts. The main focus of this invention is through 3D printing, allowing Apple to create from computer-generated designs. The patent even goes so far as to list potential parts: "A telephone, such as a cell phone, and a land-line phone, or any communication device, such as a smart phone, including, for example an iPhone, and an electronic email sending/receiving device. It can be a part of a display, such as a digital display, a TV monitor, an electronic-book reader, an iPad, and a computer monitor."
That would seem to make it fairly clear that Apple intends to use liquid metal on its iPhone and iPad line at some point in the future. In fact, Patently Apple believes that Apple has already used liquid metal on the iPhone 5S.
Apple seems keen to make its products tougher, with the company recently buying a new company with the intention seemingly to make super-hard sapphire screens for the iPhone. With the new screens and liquid metal cases, the iPhone and iPad range could be as tough as they are beautiful.
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