Apple expands 3D printing for Apple Watch and iPhone cases

Source Domain: mezha.net

In its latest move, Apple has demonstrated how 3D printing is changing the approach to device housings. Indeed, Apple Watch Ultra 3 introduces a new 3D-printed titanium enclosure process that saves materials, lowers production costs, and uses 100% recycled titanium powder.

The company has already used 3D printing for the titanium version of the Apple Watch Series 11, as well as for the USB-C port on the iPhone Air.

Now Apple plans to expand this method to aluminum — so that most Apple Watch cases can be produced using 3D printing. In the future this could reach the iPhone as well, according to Power On by Mark Gurman.

As we learned in the month leading up to the announcement, the company introduced a cheaper aluminum production process for the MacBook Neo. It allowed keeping a strong and durable aluminum chassis in Apple’s cheapest MacBook ever, despite the association of cheap devices with plastic. By 2010 Apple even offered a cheap white plastic MacBook.

However, this new aluminum process is cheaper, but not related to 3D printing. It uses as little metal as possible, and the MacBook Neo consumes 50% less aluminum than traditional manufacturing methods.

Aluminum 3D Printing: The Future for the iPhone and Apple Watch

Apple aims to make a similar approach mass-market for future Apple Watch models and, perhaps one day, for the iPhone housings. According to a Bloomberg source, the production-process development team, together with the operations department, is working on aluminum 3D-printing pathways that could improve the efficiency of manufacturing the watch housings and, eventually, the iPhone.

“The company’s production-process development team, together with the operations department, is working on aluminum 3D-printing methods that could improve the efficiency of producing Apple Watch housings and, possibly, someday, iPhone housings,” I was told.

– Bloomberg, Mark Gurman

Although the main goal is cost reduction, 3D printing is not solely about…

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