For the smartphone manufacturer there are two distinct aspects to their product, the hardware and the software. In many cases the software side of things, as it is dictated by the operating system you have developed and the processor that you have either manufactured of had manufactured, it is possible to get fairly accurate information by analysing supply data and other information from manufacturers. On the hardware side of things and by this I mean the actually device itself, it is harder to predict.
One hardware aspect that is a constant challenge to manufacturers is what material to use for the case itself. Each manufacturer has gone its own way with materials but no one manufacturer has paid as much attention to the material of the case as Apple Inc.
So to continue the speculation over the, more than likely, upgrade of the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 5s lets look at what the new iPhone could be made of? With the iPhone 4 Apple moved to an all glass front and back for the device differing from the iPhone 3 that only had glass on the front. This double glass had decided users.
On one hand it is very durable, easy to keep clean and feels great either in your hand or on your cheek on the other hand you are holding two pieces of glass sandwiching electronics. There is an unwritten law says you will drop your iPhone at some stage and that there is a very good likely hood that when you pick it up it will look like a broken mirror. This has however led to a boom in sales for iPhone case manufacturers with Apple also taking advantage of the situation with the over priced, ‘Bumber’ rubber band affair.
What option are there available for Apple to produce another game changer in the smartphone market that will have all the other manufacturers playing catch up? There have been rumours of a budget priced iPhone which would as the name suggests be made of a cheap material, probable a plastic. There is even a rumour ‘Gold’ iPhone in the works from Apple.
Neither of these are really going to be a game changer. New materials are however, and one of those new materials is LiquidMetal. Years ago Apple signed an agreement with the manufacturer of LiquidMetal to use the material. It difficult to say whether LiquidMetal is used on the iPhone 4 but the sim card tray does have an interesting feel to it. Vertu, the high end handset manufacturer, have used LiquidMetal to great effect and the strength and durability of the material can be seen in the their adverts.
