There’s been a lot of speculation that Apple will use space-age Liquidmetal alloys to make morphing iPhones or other sci-fi technology, but the company has already used the exotic alloy — and in the most unlikely place.
The pin for ejecting the iPhone 3G SIM card is made from Liquidmetal, an extremely hard and light metal alloy, according to Atakan Peker, the alloy’s co-inventor, who spoke to CultofMac.com last week.
Peker recognized the metal when he opened his iPhone 3G. It’s as hard as nails and has a distinctive color and feel.
“That’s my metal,” he said. “I recognized it immediately. Take it from an expert, that’s Liquidmetal.”
CultofMac.com has independently confirmed that Apple used Liquidmetal. Apple sourced the part from Liquidmetal Technologies as a test of the company’s manufacturing capabilities. Apple has a very strict policy that normally requires at least two separate sources for parts. The policy is insurance against supply problems like factories burning down.
But because Liquidmetal is state-of-the-art, there weren’t two sources of Liquidmetal parts. Liquidmetal Technologies didn’t even have two production lines. Apple decided to source a non-essential part: a SIM card ejector pin. The pin was also a good test of Liquidmetal’s unique properties — it must be strong and inflexible.
“It is practically unbendable by hand unless you want to hurt or cut your fingers,” Peker said.
Peker co-invented Liquidmetal in 1992 with engineering professor Bill Johnson when he was a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology. He was the first scientist to make Liquidmetal, a form of bulk metallic glass, in the lab.
Peker subsequently went on to become VP of research at Liquidmetal Technology, a Caltech spinoff set up to commercialize the technology. Liquidmetal is the commercial name of a series of bulk metallic glasses developed at Caltech. Apple has signed an exclusive agreement to use the company’s IP in consumer electronic products.
It’s not clear how long Apple sourced Liquidmetal for SIM ejector pins. European models of the iPhone 3G have ordinary steel pins, and maybe also those shipped to Asia, Peker said. “They’re not Liquidmetal,” he said. “They bend like paperclips.”
The iPhone 4 doesn’t ship with a SIM card pin.
Congratulations to reader @crosby who was the first to correctly name the Liquidmetal part in last week’s competition. @crosby wins a brand new Magic Trackpad.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
38 responses to “Apple’s Mystery Liquidmetal Product Revealed… [Competition Answer]”
“The iPhone 4 doesn’t ship with a SIM card pin.”
err yeah it does!
He probably means the iPhone 4 for Verizon
i didnt get a sim card pin with my iphone 4
my iphone 4 sim ejection tool has the word “taiwan” etch on it
is liquidmetal technologies from taiwan?
Hey Guys – I am a Apple Follower and I came Up with an idea of incorporating the sim ejector tool with a keyring – kindly support this product if you can http://www.quirky.com/ideations/220385