Next iPhone said to ditch glass for Liquidmetal, arrive in June

Josh Lowensohn/CNET

(CNET) After a brief hiatus, the long-standing rumor that Apple will employ more metal in the iPhone, has made a return - and even taken a new twist.

Full coverage of Apple at Tech Talk

Citing unnamed industry sources, Korean news site ETnews says Apple will use Liquidmetal technology for the next iPhone, which the outlet boldly claims will be unveiled at Apple's annual worldwide developers conference.

That conference, which has yet to be announced, typically takes place in June. Up until the last year, it has also been ground zero for the unveiling of new iPhones, including Apple's first-generation model.

Liquidmetal

/ Liquidmetal Technologies

As for the question of whether Apple would even use such a material, it's been more of when, rather than if.

Apple acquired an exclusive commercial license to Liquidmetal in late 2010. The technology, which Apple has used only for the SIM ejector tool it includes with some iPhone and iPad models, is billed as a metallic glass.

In its documentation, Liquidmetal Technologies says that the individual pieces that come out of its process offer more strength, elasticity, and hardness than aluminum and titanium alloys, as well as stainless steel.

ETnews adds that Apple will not be alone in using a new material for its flagship handset. Citing the same sources, it says Apple rival Samsung plans to use ceramics for its Galaxy S3 smartphone, which is expected to be unveiled next month.

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This is the latest in a series of rumors suggesting that Apple will use more metal in its smartphone. Last December, Boy Genius Report said that Apple would be using aluminum as the backing of the phone, just like it's done on all three generations of its iPad. Before that, DigiTimes claimed the back of the device would "be changed to a metal chassis instead of reinforced glass." Both rumors were preceded by a 9to5Mac report in March, saying Apple was making a move to metal instead of glass.

This article first appeared at CNET.

[bbarnes5557]

who cares if they make it out of ****, the next day it will be out of diarrea..its all BS

[longtree-2009]

funny, the moment you buy an iphone it's already obsolete as a new one is coming out in just months. but that's just business. what good is a top of the line cell phone if your carrier is awful?

[nbcnews]

If they wait much longer to release the i5 people are going to forget what it was.snzzzzzzz

[omnibus66]

"its process offer more strength, elasticity, and hardness than aluminum and titanium alloys, as well as stainless steel."

Is this an ICBM or an iPhone? Seems like a gimmick to get people to "upgrade" to something that actually adds nothing to the unit. Now if they were going to use the stuff to make your car safer it would be a different story.

[USMC-hoorah]

If you are a stock trader this company Liquid Metals was alerted by www.jasonbondpicks.com at .16 I have 60k shares from this price and at todays closing I am up 7,800. This is the best site on the net hands down when it comes to trading stocks.

[Bojax39]

And CBS commentary is becoming a good place to find spam......