Apple has bought its first ever commercial batch of carbon-free aluminum for use in its products.
It’s the result of a $144 million collaboration between Apple, the governments of Canada and Quebec, and Alcoa Corp and Rio Tinto, two of the world’s biggest aluminum suppliers. Elysis is the name of the new venture. Hopefully its products will be coming soon to an Apple device near you.
President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on imported aluminum and steel could hit Apple, which is a big user of both, where it hurts.
And if it’s anything like other times that Apple has been slapped with increased import duties, that could translate to increased prices for customers.
Apple’s iPhone empire has been made possible thanks to the magic of aluminum. But under certain circumstances, Jony Ive’s favorite metal can be the iPhone’s worst enemy.
The folks behind the YouTube channel Backyard Scientists decided to see what happens when you dunk the iPhone in molten aluminum. Seeing the iPhone get a Terminator 2 type of death is oddly beautiful.
Check it out:
Apple’s switch to ceramic for Apple Watch Edition could mean big things for iPhone 8. Being four times harder than stainless steel and a darn sight prettier, ceramic would be an ideal material for the next generation of iPhone unibodies.
Recent rumors have promised Apple will deliver a major redesign next year to celebrate the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, and what better way to do that than with a new material that’s better than anything Apple’s used before?
Apple might want to avoid that “all-glass” design it is supposedly working on for the iPhone 8. A new drop test, which puts the iPhone 6s up against the Galaxy S7, proves aluminum is a far better choice for our smartphones.
Jony Ive’s beloved aluminum casing is as about as iconic a part of the iPhone as the Apple logo or a working OS. Despite that, a new report claims that the company will ditch its aluminum look for an all-glass enclosure for next year’s iPhone 7s.
Reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed this tidbit over the weekend in a note to clients, which also reiterated the view that the 2017-era iPhone will sport an OLED display.
Apple insists “bendgate” isn’t an issue after receiving just 9 complaints about bent iPhones as of last week, and the vast majority seem to agree. But will the Cupertino company think differently when it discovers that people are walking into its retail stores and bending the iPhone 6 Plus units it has on display?
HTC has today announced a new HTC One variant that gives Android fans with a penchant for gold a nice alternative to the iPhone 5s. The new device is identical to the original on the inside, but its aluminum panels have had a new lick of champaign-colored paint.
The Slope is similar to the MiStand I reviewed yesterday, only it goes long on style and short on utility. It’s essentially a bent piece of aluminum with sticky pads on each side, and it holds your iPad, hovering, above your desk.
Most iPad cases we see are rehashes of the same old Smart Cover or Folio designs, but the Case 66 is a genuinely clever new design. It’s an aluminum bumper mixed with a kickstand mixed with a beautiful cloth-lined leather case. Somehow, it manages to fit all of these features in whilst still looking great, and it only costs $50. What?
The ring of Tim Cook’s softened Southern twang hasn’t yet left our ears, and yet Belkin has already announced, not one, but practically a whole wall at the Apple Store full of iPad Air cases and keyboards.
Of the ten cases and three keyboard cases announced by Belkin after today’s event, the most interesting is the minimalist Qode (perhaps a Star Wars character?) Thin Type Keyboard Case — one of Belkin’s excellent keyboards wrapped in aluminum and equipped with a hinge that lets it double as a cover for the screen. For a little more protection, there’s the Qode (Peruvian dessert?) Ultimate Keyboard Case, which adds a protective aluminum backing around the iPad Air.
With the fifth-generation iPad set to feature a new design based on the smaller, sleeker iPad mini, Apple’s existing lineup of iPad Smart Covers aren’t going to fit it. But fear not, Smart Cover fans — Apple is already working on new models that will fit the iPad 5’s smaller chassis. Check them out in the hands-on video below.
A rear panel believed to be for the upcoming second-generation iPad mini appears to have been leaked from Apple’s supply chain. The panel is largely the same as the existing one — suggesting the new model will look identical to the original — but it has a new Apple logo on its back.
Nokia has today announced the Lumia 925, a new Windows Phone flagship that will be hoping to steal market share away from Apple and Samsung in 2013. The device boasts an aluminum frame and offers an 8.7-megapixel rear-facing PureView camera — both of which are firsts for Nokia’s Windows Phone devices.
Samsung has had to defend the Galaxy S4’s plastic form factor quite a bit since the device was announced back in March, and one of the ways it has done that is by touting the handsets durability. Plastic, Samsung claims, makes the device much more robust than competing smartphones because it bends and absorbs impact.
But as we suspected all along, aluminum is stronger. In a smartphone torture test performed by warranty provider SquareTrade, the Galaxy S4 fails to beat the iPhone 5 in drop tests, and even proved to be more fragile than its predecessor, the Galaxy S III.
I have to admit, I hadn’t heard of case maker Tactus until last week, but in the space of just a few days it has published an unveiling date and specifications for the fifth-generation iPad, the plastic casing for Apple’s rumored low-cost iPhone, and now the fifth-generation iPad’s new aluminum shell.
My huge 27-inch iMac is currently hanging on the wall thanks to a VESA mount and adapter, which means I’m intimately familiar with the heavy aluminum leg that used to hold it up. I have been looking for something to do with it other than using it to gather up dust under my bed, and now I think I have it: An oversized iPad stand.
Or I could just give Bluelounge $40 for the Mika, a “Universal” stand for anything vaguely tablet-sized.
Samsung has already explained its love for plastic, and why it chose to stick with it for the flagship Galaxy S4. But after receiving a lot of criticism for that decision, the company’s head of design, Dennis Miloseski, was forced to defend the Galaxy S4’s plastic build once again at Engadget’s Expand conference in San Francisco this weekend.
This is just about the coolest iPad case you’ll see this week. It’s called the Tank, and it’s an aluminum beast which will protect your iPad and also twist to stand in pretty much any position you choose. If a movie protagonist was to walk purposefully down a street with an iPad handcuffed to his wrist, it’d be sat inside a Tank.
Made from rare woods, leather, and nickel-plated aluminum, Element’s Ronin iPhone 5 case is definitely one of the most beautiful and finely crafted cases I’ve seen. But at $180, its price might be hard from some to swallow.
Those analysts are some crazy cats. When you’re having a drab day, you can always count on one of them to pull something spectacular out of the bag. Jefferies analyst Peter Misek has done exactly that today when he unveiled his predictions for Apple’s iPhone 5S.
The handset will arrive in June, Misek believes, just nine months after the iPhone 5 made its debut, and it’ll boast NFC connectivity and a “super HD” camera. It’ll also come in 6-8 colors, apparently.
I laughed at Misek’s predictions when I first read them, but could he be right?
I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect iPhone 5 dock, and I think I’ve found it in the OCDock. Built from high-grade aluminum and designed to seamlessly integrate itself beneath your iMac or Thunderbolt Display, the OCDock stays out of your way and keeps your desk free from clutter. It also appears to be completely wireless.
Apple’s much-anticipated iPad mini is expected to make its debut in mid-October, but it may be a little more difficult to get hold of than other iOS devices. According to sources in the Cupertino company’s Taiwanese supply chain, iPad mini shipments are already stumbling due to the low yield rates of the tablet’s aluminum chassis.
Twelve South has today announced a new height-adjustable stand for iMac called HiRise, which claims the be the first adjustable stand to offer a built-in storage bay — the perfect place to store your external hard drives, cables, discs, and even your wallet and keys.
While the vast majority of us couldn’t be happier with our new iPhone 5s, a number of users who decided to purchase the black & slate model have noticed that its anodized aluminum finish is prone to chipping and scratching. Unfortunately, it’s not an isolated issue affecting a certain batch of black devices, either — it appears to be affecting them all.
Could this be an issue Apple quickly needs to address? No. Apparently not. According to the company’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Schiller, those chips and scratches are “normal.”