Apple iPhone 8 to feature Liquid Metal Glass Back

A new patent published by the United States patent & Trademark Office reveals that liquid metal is going to be used for the backside of an iPhone.

As per the patent background, metallic glasses such as amorphous alloys and glass alloys don't have a similar crystalline structure as other metals when in their solid state. The atoms present in them stay in a disordered manner that gives them an amorphous structure. It is not only difficult to design metallic glasses with unique cosmetic properties, but also to use it as a surface coating.

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Apparently, Apple has found a way to solve this problem with what is known as micro-alloying. In this process, the metallic glass coating has to be applied on a metal substrate in order to make a metallic glass coated surface.

After that, pulsed radiation is applied to the coated surface for making the metal glass joined to the metal substrate. Thus, a metallic glass with an altered chemical composition is formed.

Apple has also included an image in the patent, which shows a device with a micro-alloyed metallic glass coated metal substrate. Numerous online rumors had already been suggesting that the iPhone 8 will sport a glass back and have wireless charging facilities as well.

The only three materials supporting wireless charging are ceramic, glass and plastic. Ceramic and glass are fragile, while plastic is out of the question. So, it is safe to say that iPhone 8 may indeed show up with a metallic glass back.

However, as Apple always stays tight-lipped about its devices, no such confirmation has been made by the company yet.

Source