LiquidMetal Revitalizes iPhone 5 Form Factor Rumors Ahead Of WWDC
Posted by Michael Nace on Tuesday Jun 5, 2012 Under iPhone 5 Opinion, iPhone 5 RumorWith less than a week to go before the kick-off of the Worldwide Developers Conference, LiquidMetal is injecting themselves back into Apple and iPhone 5 speculation.
Since the advent of iPhone 5 speculation, LiquidMetal has been at the forefront of the form factor rumors, since Apple’s license with the metal alloy company was sealed in the same year that the iPhone 4 was released, thus kicking off the long, meandering wait for the now-mythic iPhone 5. We’ve covered the LiquidMetal angel since its beginnings, if for no other reason than the technology itself would seem to provide Apple with a unique and innovative means of achieving remarkable form factors for its products.
Over the past few months, we’ve seen some wild news swings about LiquidMetal and Apple releases. The first came about on the eve of the New iPad release, when the company itself issued a press release that briefly led some to wonder if the iPad 3 would feature a LiquidMetal chassis. That of course did not come to pass, but it was the start of a crescendoing anticipation for LiquidMetal to be factored into the iPhone 5′s form factor, with rumors out of Asia to boot.
Now, with the WWDC less than a week away, LiquidMetal is once again making news, inciting the speculators to once wonder: is LiquidMetal going to show up at the WWDC?
Today, 9to5Mac posted a promotional video from Liquidmetal Technologies’ CEO Tom Steipp, wherein he explicitly singled out Apple in his comments:
“In what looks to be a video aimed towards potential investors, Liquidmetal Technologies’ CEO Tom Steipp confirmed his company’s involvement by announcing it is supplying Liquidmetal to Apple. In the video seen below, the CEO said (55 seconds): ‘Our technology has been commercialized in a number of accounts, most recently by Apple computer, which took a license on the product in August of 2010. [Apple] along with us are commercializing [Liquidmetal] in the consumer electronic space.’”
The timing of this video cannot be overlooked, as anticipation over what Apple might announce at the WWDC is bound to escalate, no matter how many people believe that the iPhone 5 is still almost half a year away from release. Whether or not Steipp’s comments are a power play for sucking up some of that buzz or not, the company also released a press release on May 15th, wherein Steipp was quoted as saying, “We are excited about the progress of the program as customers test and evaluate the commercial parts that we shipped to them last quarter. We understand that this is a detailed process as they look to replace complex machined parts. We look forward to having them move into full production in the coming months.”
For as much as LiquidMetal’s application is anticipated to be aimed at the iPhone 5′s form factor upgrade, there have also been reports that the alloy could be used in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries as well, suggesting that it could in fact debut at the WWDC in a use as yet unforeseen. However, given Steipp’s comment concerning “complex machined parts,” the assumption here is that the metal alloy may end up being used in the construction of sophisticated designs, such as the iPhone.
By Michael Nace
Michael Nace is the Publisher of the iPhone 5 News Blog and iPhone 6 News Blog. He has published articles about the iPhone since 2010.
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June 5th, 2012 at 11:19 am
Does it have to be the iPhone? What about a liquid metal MacBook?
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June 5th, 2012 at 11:24 am
I really hope this is true. I love that mockup that was posted in a previous article. If Apple does something like that, they’ll be killing 2 (or more) birds with one stone. Coming out with a sick new iPhone with a new, amazing and beautiful form factor as well as a larger screen and killer specs. The GSIII is coming out in June and the HTC One is also here, whether you like the phones or not, there is going to be a BIG demand for them from Android fans and even though it hasn’t been a full year since the 4S was released, Apple would be smart to release their new phone sooner then later.
People are coming off their contracts for the iPhone 4 and the most tech-savvy of people waiting for a new phone, want the latest technology. We want to be able to show off our tech toys and at the same time have a good reliable phone that works. The 4S is great but it’s unfortunately going to be overshadowed more and more by these new Android phones coming out now and in the future. If Apple waits til the Fall to release their new iPhone, they’re going to lose more market-share from people that are expecting something grand, people are going to jump ship and go Android rather then wait. It just really seems to be common sense to me to release a new phone sooner then later in order to stay in competition with what’s coming.
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June 5th, 2012 at 11:31 am
@ Thomas
The inventor of Liquidmetal stated a few months ago that he believes it’s not ready for something large like a macbook yet at this point, but for smaller components/devices:
‘I’ve heard rumors that future MacBooks from Apple could use Liquidmetal casing, what would that be like? Is it likely to happen?
“Given the size of MacBook and scale of Apple products, I think it’s unlikely that Liquidmetal casing will be used in MacBooks in the near term. It’s more likely in the form of small component such as a hinge or bracket. A MacBook casing, such as a unibody, will take two to four more years to implement.”‘
http://www.businessinsider.com/liquidmetal-inventor-atakan-peker-apple-will-use-it-in-a-breakthrough-product-2012-5
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June 5th, 2012 at 11:44 am
@SpasticPat You are absolutely correct in your analysis and I completely agree. Let me however tack on one extra piece. If Apple does wait till October, google and android will have 5 Jelly Bean “nexus” devices launch right after them. These phones also have a major following (for android) and they could over shadow the next iPhone if apple does wait and still doesn’t deliver something big (like they did with the 4s). In my eyes the most revolutionary phone launched last fall was the galaxy nexus and not the iPhone 4s in terms of new features and I hope apple does not allow that to happen again this year.
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June 5th, 2012 at 11:48 am
@cocoapro13 yeah jelly bean’s coming, but the funny thing is, only 7% of the 7475656 (random big number lol) Android phones only have ICS so I’m guessing when Jelly Bean comes out less then 1% will probably get it and before you know it Klondike or whatever K is will be out and on less then .01% of available devices.
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June 5th, 2012 at 11:55 am
@SpasticPat, yeah android is funny like that which is why I for one really don’t count android as a single operating system but more of an umbrella term like windows counts as xp vista 7 8 etc. But anyways the point you are making is exactly why the nexus devices have gained such a following. They are more likely to get the newest operating system every year then any other android device. And from an android point of view also have some of the greatest features. which is why if Apple slacks again google (read not all android phones but a google nexus phone) may surpass the iphone in features even if only 1 android phone uses them.
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June 5th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
@SpasticPat apparently my last comment is awaiting moderation so I apologize in having to wait for my reply to your great comment. We can resume our conversation as soon as Michael or Charles allows it to post. Not sure why it needed moderation though lol
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June 5th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
@cocoapro13 no problem. Yeah they just like to make sure if there any links in the comment that it’s appropriate/not spam or anything which is understandable, especially when Drudge links up to the site…
The main thing that causes Android to be fragmented is that it’s so open source. Not that that’s a bad thing, I think it’s great people can customize it to their liking and tweak it for what they want it to do. It’s actually very cool from a developer/programmer’s point of view, basically the Linux of cellphones. The problem is that it’s very inconsistent and can cause problems for apps in Google Play because while it’s able to be run on this build of Froyo it might crash constantly on that build if it comes in conflict with some tweak that the oem of the device made.
I myself am not a developer but I think personally I’d prefer to develop for iOS because it’s so consistent. This link shows a visual of Android’s fragmentation, looks crazy lol:
http://www.bgr.com/2012/05/16/android-fragmentation-visualized-opensignalmaps/
There was also an image on Engadget a few weeks ago showing some app company and they had like 400+ different Android devices that they had to test their apps on every single device individually to make sure it runs properly and works. The article above describes a little bit about how this could possibly lead to the downfall of Android eventually.
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June 5th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Publisher’s Note: Sometimes the blog holds comments in moderation, and I have no idea why! I always work to get posts approved a.s.a.p., so if there is ever a delay, my apologies.
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June 5th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
@Michael, No worries on the delay. Just thought it was random because there was no link but hey sometimes weird things happen. You do great at moderating the blog and we appreciate all the hard work that goes into it!
@SpasticPat, Nice find on that graph! that is one crazy graph. My thoughts on android are conflicting as well because I am a small bit of a techie geek and am currently using a rooted android and like it to some extent but it has a lot of issues. Mostly with the frag issues you are referring to. There are seriously days that I wish google would of closed the code and only had nexus devices but then again there wouldn’t be any choice for the consumers and that is one of the great things about android. It gives the consumer a lot of choice. Point of all this though is android will eventually be separated into google nexus devices and non nexus devices and i think apple’s true competitor will be a nexus phone. Hopefully that forces apple to be revolutionary again though as the first iPhone really was something quite special at the time. So in the aspect of competition and forcing apple to improve I for one am hoping google does catch and even surpass apple (for a short while) in features by focusing on the nexus phones.
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June 5th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
@SpasticPat The next version of android will probably be called Key Lime Pie or Kugel. Anyway I’m looking forward to a summer launch but it seems to be fading recently. I don’t want to jump ship but the Galaxy Note and now the Galaxy S 3 are looking pretty swell next to my iPhone 4. My contract ends in august but I am up for renewal since January.
@Michael recently all of my comments have been moderated and I found it weird. Good to know!
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June 5th, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Hi Michael if the iPhone 5/New iPhone was to be announced at the WWDC what day do you think it would happen? The last day?
Great article by the way and fantastic website. Keep it up.
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June 6th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
@James, the keynote has been scheduled for the 11th. That’s typica
Ly when they announce new products (software and hardware)
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