An Apple patent application for a metallic glass process may hold the secret to the beautiful iPhone 11 Pro finish on the rear glass.
The rear glass is a subtle yet lovely design feature of the flagship iPhone, looking more like a metal than a glass — and that may be because the material includes the properties of both…
In its promotional video for the flagship device (below), hardware SVP Dan Riccio drops a few clues about the matte glass back, but doesn’t get into specifics. Here’s what he has to say.
Patently Apple suggests that this may be using a technology described in an Apple patent application published yesterday.
That does seem a pretty good match for both the strength and textured finish, with one other piece of supporting evidence.
Metal Glass is one of the toughest forms of glass and it’s very possible that Apple may have used the method outlined in this latest patent application for the iPhone 11 Pro to give it a texture […]
Apple’s invention covers a thermoplastic forming method to replicate fine texture from a silicate glass mold.
Here’s what the patent, originally filed in early 2018, has to say about the process.
It says that the texture itself is incredibly subtle.
The metal in the material could be any one of a number of options.
Unless someone performs a molecular analysis of the material used for the iPhone 11 Pro finish, we’re unlikely to learn whether this hypothesis is correct, but it does at least seem plausible.
