Liquidmetal has been used once by Apple in the SIM ejection tool. There was a patent for the home button but zero confirmation it was ever used.
JayBiscuit said Liquidmetal was probably used in the AirPods Max at one point, based on metallurgical analysis and mold marks. This was never confirmed by outside analysis so it’s kind of hearsay, although I don’t think he would purposely mislead. Still, it would be nice to have secondary confirmation.
If Apple used us in the AirPods it was a proof of concept and was a tiny part. Personally I don’t think it was probably in there but who knows.
There’s an argument that Apple’s 2010 license means they never pay for Liquidmetal. However, even if this is true — and it’s disputed by some — Apple would still pay for the manufacturing. Liquidmetal would CM the job to Yihao and we would receive the profit: the difference between what Yihao is paid and what Apple offers. This is the “cost plus” I believe.
So we’d at least get manufacturing profit, if not IP profit, and it could be both depending on your belief about subsequent Liquidmetal formulations and new processes.