Apple’s patent filing for a process to manufacture light weight laminated ceramic housings could be put into use for the rumoured low cost iPhone. Apple filed a similar ceramic housing patent back in 2006 but one major difference is in the way housing is manufactured. The 2006 patent filing details a method of extrusion in which a die cut in the required share is forced on to the material to get the final product but the latest patent files a process of adding low weight laminated layers of ceramic on top of each other to create a housing with higher tensile strength and better radio transparency. The housing will be completely made out of substances like zirconia and alumina that are radio transparent, it is quite essential to create a housing out of radio transparent materials as devices like an iPhone transmit various wireless signals.
Having a unibody ceramic casing will enable Apple to maintain the looks of the device going hand in hand with iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S unibody design as well. The design also helps in protecting dust and debris from entering the internals of the device thus offering better protection.
Curent range of unibody products offered on Windows Mobile and few Android devices are quite expensive partly because of the manufacturing complications, Apple will have to come up with some better manufacturing process to further reduce the cost of the rumoured low cost iPhone if it has to maintain a healthy amount of margin and still use a ceramic housing.
Source: AppleInsider