A new report out of Korea claims Apple will swap out the glass back on its next iPhone for a super-tough alloy called Liquidmetal.
Citing industry sources, Korea IT News reported on Wednesday that Apple's next-generation iPhone will be made of "zirconium, titanium, nickel, copper and so forth." This should give the device a "surface smooth like liquid." The material would offer the iPhone some benefits – it is light, but also highly resistant to external impacts and corrosion.
Rumors that Apple will give the iPhone a metal back have been floating around since last year, even before the launch of the iPhone 4S. Last March, Taiwan's Economic Daily News said complaints of scratching and difficulty painting the glass back prompted Apple to make this change. Additionally, the report said that the weight of the glass added to Apple's rethinking of the back design.
Moreover, Apple has a history with Liquidmetal. Back in 2010, Cupertino purchased exclusive rights to use the super-strong alloy in its consumer electronic products. The company that makes the material, called Liquidmetal Technologies, revealed this March that Apple paid $20 million in the deal, according to Appleinsider.
AppleInsider, however, called the new report out of Korea "questionable," based on the date it said the new iPhone will debut. The Korea IT News report says Apple is expected to unveil its next iPhone at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco this June. But, Apple didn't unveil the iPhone 4S until last October, and most rumors claim the tech giant is planning to keep a similar timeframe for the launch of its next iPhone.
For more, see PCMag's full review of the iPhone 4S and the slideshow below.