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Remember when new iPhones folded? What about Apple's Stainless Steel Watches or the iPhone 7 Jet Black? And do not even get me started on MacBook aluminum stripes. Well, Apple could solve all this in the not-too-distant future, as it is currently studying ways to create abrasion-resistant surface finishes on metal enclosures.
No, seriously, this is the name of a new Apple patent application released by the USPTO earlier this week.
Apple seems to want to make the iPhone (and other products) indestructible. During the iPhone event, the company insisted on the IP68 ranking of the iPhone XS series, noting that the new handsets will treat water and other liquids much better. He also insisted on the new window of the iPhone XS – the press release:
The front and rear glass features the most durable glass ever on a smartphone with better scratch resistance, while the rear glass speeds up wireless charging. The iPhone Xs and the iPhone Xs Max reach a new level of resistance to splashing and IP68 water up to 2 meters for 30 minutes and protect against daily spills including coffee, tea and soft drinks.
But Apple also wants to avoid scratches that can "ruin" an iPhone, an iPad, a MacBook or an Apple Watch (emphasis on ours):
Portable computing devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops, come into contact with a wide range of hard and abrasive materials during normal use. In addition, the computing devices can be dropped and subjected to impacts or abrasive wear by hard materials. If the housings of the computing devices are not properly protected, the housings may develop scratches, gouges and other defects that adversely affect the aesthetic appeal of the housings. If the housings include anodized metal parts, the scratches, nicks and defects can pass through the protective anodic film and allow the contaminants to corrode with the underlying metal. What is needed, therefore, are improved coatings for metal surfaces.
It's hard to know when these technologies will be used or if they are already being used on new Apple devices. The documentation was filed in March 2017 with the USPTO. But from Apple's patent, it is obvious that Apple pays attention to customer feedback. Discover the following image:
And here is the text that accompanies it (emphasis on ours):
The oxide coating 204 is generally harder than the underlying substrate 202. For example, a Type II oxide coating 204 may have a Vickers hardness of between about 300 and 500 HV0.05. Thus, the oxide coating 204 can provide significant resistance to impact loads that could otherwise plastically deform an underlying aluminum alloy substrate 202 relatively softer. However, the oxide coating 204 may still be susceptible to scratching. For example, a hard particle 205, which can be made of metal, sand, stone, concrete, grain, glass, or other hard material that part 200 can meet in normal use, can come into contact and slide on outer surface 206 ( represented by the arrow 208). ) and abrade a portion of the oxide coating 204. Even at a relatively low applied pressure 209, the outer surface 206 may develop a visible scratch 210, which may adversely affect the cosmetic products of the portion 200. In addition, if the oxide coating 204 is colored in a dark color (eg black) and has an outer surface 206 that is covered with a high gloss, it may lack optical depth to hide such scratch 210, thus making the scratch 210 particularly obvious. This is to say that a highly glossy outer surface 206 on a polished dark colored oxide coating 204 can highlight even a very small scratched surface 210 or other defects, which may appear as white or silver dots.
If you've thought of the iPhone Jet Black 7 when you read the paragraph above, well, you're probably not the only one. In the future, this might not happen.
In addition, the patent describes a coating that would be so powerful to prevent deformation of the metal. This is because the external forces can be strong enough to damage the metal, especially if the aluminum, which could spoil the appearance of the phone.
The patent explains that the abrasion-resistant coating will be applied over the paint coat, suggesting that Apple could offer additional color options for its products without worrying about wear and tear.
For the moment, though, I advise you to use cases and screen protectors with your new iPhones because I tend to be a little paranoid about it.
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