Apple could be building a carbon fibre MacBook, iPad or iPhone 5 -- and reports say it's gone so far as to actually order carbon fibre parts.
According to Japanese blog Macotakara, Apple has "commissioned a product sample" made of carbon fibre from an unnamed Japanese supplier. Exactly what the product is remains a mystery, however.
Carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer, also known as carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic, is a composite material that's both very strong and very light. It's used in motor racing, aerospace engineering as well as sporting equipment such as golf clubs or helmets. The combination of low weight and rigid strength makes it ideal for encasing gadgets, but it's still relatively expensive.
Evidence for a carbon fibre future for Apple is piling up. Carbon fibre MacBooks have been rumoured for a few years, with Apple filing a patent in 2010 for gadget casings made from carbon fibre. The company has a number of other related patents pointing to an iPad or laptop made from the woven material.
And Apple last year hired the boss of a company that built custom carbon fibre bikes as a senior composites engineer. It's also currently advertising for a carbon material engineer in Japan.
NEC recently revealed a carbon fibre tablet, the NEC Medias Tab UL N08-D. Only on sale in Japan, the 7-inch slate weighs just 249g -- less than half the weight of the iPad and significantly lighter than both the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7.
Carbon fibre is also used in the super-expensive Vertu Constellation phone, but that's also made from leather and rubies so it's clearly for people with more money than sense. Other laptops built from classy carbon fibre include the Sony Vaio Z series.
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anonymous 27 September, 2012 13:00
"Apple filing a patent in 2010 for gadget casings"
they've got a patent for making stuff out of carbon fibre? that's just taking the P*ss if that's true...
Theo Mills 27 September, 2012 13:06
Apple stuffs are nice but is the iPhone 5 any better than competition now? Here is a video of Nokia Lumia 920 dominating the iPhone is video tests carried out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KteezNBAPj8&feature=plcp
anonymous 27 September, 2012 13:06
damn apple, how can u patant that, its like a case, i would understand if some one else has an exact same case but if its only slightly diff then the patant cant hold surley.
anonymous 27 September, 2012 13:07
plus other companies like hp already have laptops with carbon cases. (*&( off apple
anonymous 27 September, 2012 13:18
Apple filing a patent in 2010 for gadget casings made from carbon fibre. This can't be true. How can you patent using a material for a gadget? This must be in America where the patent system is up the left and anything goes as long as you have enough money to pay off whoever you want. Look at the recent court case for samsung v rotten apple in California. How biased was that. I bet you the judge has an apple phone lol
Meleagru 27 September, 2012 13:25
Carbon fiber would be a great material for a shockproof phone. I still don't see Apple building that however, given their current track record. And it's still quite expensive, not to mention rather ungainly. We'll see.
anonymous 27 September, 2012 13:31
Its been done before recently, you even reviewed it CNET:
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/gigabyte-x11-review-50008982/
jopov123 27 September, 2012 14:35
I'm still waiting for all the see-through flexi screen gadgets we were promised last year.
ArclightJones 27 September, 2012 15:19
"so it's clearly for people with more money than sense" you mean apple fanboi's
anonymous 27 September, 2012 15:41
apple will rule the world.