Its not just about achieving lower cost one step manufacturing but needing a Superior case and Finish than is currently available with Aluminium. While manufacturing won’t be one step, it will certainly cut out many steps currently involved with CNC. It could also simply be for the purpose of making iDevices waterproof and impossible for third party servicing. BMG commercialisation won’t be as how we here would like it to be but it will publicise LiquidMetal.
Coat/plate for the purpose of giving consumers color and /or texture choices. Instead of anodising expensive Series 7000 aluminium, Coat/plate a cheaper preform with LiquidMetal in several durable chip resistant colours and textures.
Agree with k.i.s.s. and while thin sheets that are cut then hot formed will be very cheap if used, this is a new Apple that makes Solid gold and ceramic watches, hard to predict how they will apply BMG externally to their products, internally small cheap BMG parts are used to make them perform magically/reliably.
Apart from superior external casing and coating benefits that would be cheaper than the current CNC and anodising of S7000 Al, Apple being able to claim that their products are cased/protected with LiquidMetal would help to differentiate them from all the competitors, from a marketing perspective thats priceless.
No other manufacture can make the same claim or use the same trade mark.
Competitors can claim Metallic Glass etc, but they can't use those magical words “LiquidMetal”
While to those with knowledge about BMG might think its a simplistic inefficient use of Amorphous Alloys, to the 100’s millions of Apple fans it will be an amazing revelation, one that only Apple can claim.
Eontec can handle manufacturing the BMG sheets and hot forming them over completed iPhones, or supply the BMG powder for "Depositing" but Li wont profit from his lqmt shares unless he can transfer some of those orders to LMT, and Apple wont be able to differentiate its BMG unless it promotes it as 'LiquidMetal'
So it might not be mass commercialisation of Injection molding, but if its marketed as LiquidMetal that will be a Huge win for lqmt and Li's 405 m shares.
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