As we all know, Apple's mobile phone products started from the iPhone5, and the screen size soared to the present 5.5 inches; There is no doubt about the visual impact brought by the big screen design, but in the case that the material of the fuselage has not changed significantly and the thickness of the fuselage has been reduced again and again, the larger fuselage will make the iPhone easier to bend. Many users often accidentally bend their favorite phones, which seriously leads to screen fragmentation, which is unbearable for users who bought an iPhone for five or six thousand yuan, so Apple once became the target of public criticism. This contradiction was also magnified to the maximum on the iPhone 6 Plus.
In order to solve the bending problem, both the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus use a new 7000 aluminum as the main body material, and Apple also claims that the new iPhone 6s series models will never bend again. So, is this really the case? What is the material of 7000 aluminum? What changes will its application bring to iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus? Besides the new iPhone, what other mobile phone products use this body material? Today, the machine observation room will introduce this 7000 aluminum which is famous for iPhone 6s.
What is 7000 aluminum?
As the name implies, 7000 aluminum is an aluminum alloy that we often say, but it belongs to the category of superhard aluminum; According to the different alloy composition and trace element content, aluminum alloys can be divided into nine types, namely the first series to the ninth series, and the seventh series is what we call 7000 aluminum. 7000 aluminum is also called Al-Mg-Zn-Cu alloy, which can be divided into many kinds according to the amount of these trace elements. The 7000 aluminum we can see is mainly 7075 aluminum, which is mainly used in aerospace and military fields. In recent years, with the popularization of aerospace technology in the civil field, this material began to appear in consumer electronic products with high design requirements.
What are the advantages of 7000 aluminum? Why did you choose this material for the new iPhone?
As we mentioned earlier, in order to solve the problem of fuselage bending, Apple switched to a brand-new 7000 aluminum in the new generation iPhone. So, higher strength must be one of the advantages of 7000 aluminum? Of course, 7000 aluminum can be regarded as the highest strength in industrial aluminum alloy, and its strength even reaches about 2/3 of what we call steel bar (called A3 steel in industry), which is one of the important reasons why it is favored.
▲iPhone 6s uses 7000 aluminum as the body material.
From another perspective, the advantages of 7000 aluminum may be more obvious. To achieve the strength of 2/3 A3 steel, only the weight of 1/3 A3 steel is needed. 7000 aluminum is simply the most ideal metal material for consumer electronic products. It is worth mentioning that some people have noticed that both iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have become much heavier. Is this related to the use of 7000 aluminum? Speaking of this, the first thing to explain is that the iPhone 6 uses 6000 aluminum, and there is no obvious difference between the unit weight of 7000 aluminum and 6000 aluminum. The weight of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus is mainly due to the addition of 3D Touch function, which has been explained in detail by foreign media and will not be repeated here.
▲ The addition of ▲3D Touch function makes the weight of the new iPhone surge.
Another advantage of 7000 aluminum is good wear resistance, mainly because of its high hardness. As the name implies, with better wear resistance, the possibility of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus scratching the fuselage will be greatly reduced.
What are the disadvantages of 7000 aluminum? How to deal with the new iPhone?
It must be said that 7000 aluminum is not a metal material without defects. Its high strength and hardness is a double-edged sword, because higher strength and hardness will increase the difficulty of NC machining, thus increasing the manufacturing cost. Fortunately, Apple did not adjust the price for this, which is also a conscience move. In addition, the surface adhesion of 7000 aluminum is worse than that of 6000 aluminum, which will also affect its final coloring process. Fortunately, Apple seems to have solved this problem by thickening the antioxidant layer. Speaking of this, the corrosion resistance of 7000 aluminum is also worse than that of 6000 aluminum, which is another important reason for the new iPhone to thicken the antioxidant layer of the fuselage. The addition of the antioxidant layer can protect the iPhone from corrosive liquids such as sweat and make the new iPhone have a consistent appearance and texture.
▲ The thickness of the anodized layer of the new iPhone is about 10 micron.
In short, Apple has made some unfavorable preparations for 7000 aluminum. From this perspective, we also have reason to believe that iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are still very trustworthy.
Besides the iPhone 6s, which one is made of 7000 aluminum?
Speaking of the rapid popularity of 7000 aluminum, this is definitely inseparable from the release of iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, but the new iPhone is by no means the only smart model that uses this super material. In addition to the new iPhone, Samsung's Note5 and S6 edge+ are the most representative 7000 aluminum smartphone models. Samsung Note5 and S6 edge+ both adopt ultra-thin metal body design, and the addition of 7000 aluminum also makes the stability of these two models reach a new height. We hardly hear any news about the bending damage of these two models, which fully illustrates the role of 7000 aluminum in improving the stability of smart phone body.
▲ Samsung S6 edge+ also uses 7000 aluminum body.
Judging from the existence of Samsung's two big-screen new flagships, it is not a very advanced practice to use 7000 aluminum as the fuselage material for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. But from another point of view, Cook achieved the purpose of improving the bending performance of the iPhone 6s by borrowing 7000 aluminum. According to the relevant test results of foreign media, the bending strength of the new iPhone is nearly three times higher than that of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, so it is very difficult to use the Bai Wan iPhone 6s by hand.
Will domestic mobile phones introduce this super material in the future?
From the perspective of mobile phone design, the thinness of mobile phones needs better body materials to support them. If domestic manufacturers want to continue to move closer to international manufacturers in industrial design, it is essential to control new materials. In the future, it is not ruled out that more domestic mobile phones will use 7000 aluminum as the body material. However, it should be noted that 7000 aluminum, as one of the best aluminum alloy materials in terms of strength, is still mainly imported in China, and its price is around 70 yuan /kg, which is much more expensive than other types of aluminum alloys. Of course, in addition to cost considerations, 7000 aluminum needs more complicated processing techniques, including CNC cutting, anodizing and coloring treatment, which are much more difficult than our common ordinary aluminum materials; Whether the above problems can be solved perfectly will be the key to the promotion of this material in domestic mobile phones.
▲ It is rumored that the iPhone 7 will re-adopt the double-sided glass design.
What kind of body material will iPhone 7 use?
Since we talked about the material of the iPhone body and saw that neither the iPhone 6s nor the iPhone 6s Plus brought revolutionary changes, we might as well imagine what changes the iPhone 7 can bring. According to the latest news, Apple may regain the classic design of metal and double-sided glass on the iPhone 7. As we all know, this design has achieved great success on iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s. However, from the perspective of technological innovation, the metal frame design of double-sided glass has been somewhat outdated. Although Cook's Apple's efforts in innovation have been questioned by many people, Apple's accumulation of technology patents is still obvious. Considering that Cook has personally said that iPhone 7 will bring some major innovations, the design of iPhone 7 should not let us down. So, what new materials will iPhone 7 introduce? Is it a cliche about liquid metal? Or a cooler black technology material?