With the new iPad retailing pretty much everywhere in the world now, the focus of rumors and speculation has naturally leaned toward the next iteration of Apple’s market-leading iPhone device.
The latest isn’t actually a particularly new one – rather a recycled murmur from the run-up to the release of the iPhone 4S. According to ETNews, the next iPhone, which it refers to as the iPhone 5, will finally deviate from the iPhone 4 / 4S glass form factor, instead utilizing liquid metal.
The fact the fruit company purchased the IP rights to the liquid metal technology a couple of years back makes the liquid metal rumor a pretty easy one to throw some weight behind, but thus far, it has only been used in the fiddly SIM card ejector tool.
Citing industry sources, the report notes both Samsung and Apple will ditch the respective materials used for their current flagship devices, and again, rather conveniently churns up the all-but confirmed ceramic finish of the Samsung Galaxy S III, which is set to be announced in London on May 3rd.
Like the S III, the next iPhone will be thin, light and highly resistant to external impacts, so says the report, and the liquid metal is likely to consist of zirconium, titanium, nickel, copper.
A liquid metal encased device would mean less scratches and corrosion, and manufacturing the alloy would also be a lot easier. Since the metal this thought to be lighter, yet as strong as titanium, it would make sense for Apple to move toward liquid metal. With that said, the ETNews report doesn’t really tell us anything we don’t already know, and seems to take rumors and assumptions in order to paint a convenient picture, so make of it what you will.
The only thing which really caught our attention is the fact that ETNews claims that the next iPhone will debut at WWDC this year, yes, that’s just a couple of months away if we have our clocks and calendars set straight. We believe Apple won’t, and focus on the October time frame just like the iPhone 4S.
The tech world seems pretty sure the next iPhone will be called the iPhone 5, but after last month’s shenanigans with the essentially untitled "new iPad", we’re taking nothing as a given. Also, what some have failed to realize is that the iPhone 4S is actually the fifth iPhone installment, so there’s every chance Apple could skip the "5" moniker altogether and head straight for iPhone 6.
Whatever the name, we’re looking forward to discovering some more concrete information on it.
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