For over 15 years, Apple has experimented with liquid metal alloys. The material rarely makes it into consumer hands, but a new report suggests the company is still actively developing it.
The iPhone 17 Pro moved to aluminum, not because Apple loves aluminum, but because titanium turned out to have a heat problem.
While the titanium frames on the iPhone 15 and 16 Pro models looked great, they suffered from poor heat dissipation.
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Apple shifted to aluminum to improve thermal conductivity, but the change is only temporary.
Behind the scenes, Apple is reportedly chasing two very different solutions. One is a reformulated titanium alloy that keeps the premium feel while fixing the thermal conductivity issue that caused headaches before.
The other is liquid metal, a so-called amorphous alloy that Apple has held exclusive manufacturing rights to since around 2010.
Liquid metal is genuinely strange stuff. It skips the crystalline structure that most metals have, which gives it unusual properties: high strength without much weight, natural resistance to corrosion, and enough malleability to be die-cast into precise shapes.
Apple apparently sees it as a fix for one of the most stubborn problems in foldable phone design, specifically the crease that forms along a folding screen over time.
The foldable iPhone reportedly uses liquid metal components, in part, to keep the hinge area flatter and more durable with repeated folding.
While that sounds like a niche application, the math changes at scale. Once Apple figures out how to manufacture liquid metal for a foldable iPhone, production costs should drop enough to make it viable for the standard Pro lineup.
Getting there is the hard part. Mass production of liquid metal components is genuinely difficult to pull off, and Apple knows it.
Also: Apple reportedly paused its $3,900 foldable iPad after it became heavier than a MacBook Air
The iPhone 17 Air, incidentally, already uses a titanium frame, chosen for the weight savings it offers in such a thin chassis. So, titanium hasn’t disappeared from Apple’s lineup; it’s just been shuffled around.
Whether the next Air keeps titanium or moves elsewhere depends on how quickly Apple’s material research matures.
As for iPhone 18 Pro buyers hoping to get liquid metal frames, the manufacturing decisions for that model are already locked in.
Whatever Apple eventually lands on, whether a better titanium alloy or liquid metal at scale, the Pro models most likely to see it will come sometime after 2027.
