Apple to apply for a new patent | future iPhone or 18K gold plated

According to CNBC Beijing time on October 29 reported that according to the local time on October 26 disclosure of a patent application, Apple in the development and use of enhanced hardness of the production of gold 'electronic equipment appearance' process.

Due to the low hardness of 18K gold, Apple has developed a related process, by making it mixed with other metals, to improve its hardness. Patent application materials, said the process can also be used to deal with 24K gold.

According to the patent application materials, this process can be used for 'mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, etc.', can be used to make the product appearance attractive colors, such as' red gold, rose gold, pink gold, platinum, gray gold , Green gold, blue gold or purple gold '

Most of the Apple patents are not converted into goods.But the disclosure of this patent application comes when the iPhone X into the pre-sale phase of the occasion, iPhone X is currently only silver and space gray two colors for the user to choose, and not before the model of gold or Rose gold. There are third-party businesses to provide gold-plated service, but the price is not cheap, after all, the current spot price of about $ 1270 an ounce of gold.

Although Apple has always attached importance to product design and appearance of confidentiality, according to the American Chemical Society and Apple product recycling statistics, iPhone internal components contain a small amount of gold and silver elements.

Apple did not comment on this patent application.