Materials Are Hard

Nick Heer on the Apple Watch Editions use of gold, and now ceramic:

Both of these materials are new to Apple, and because the Edition sells in such low quantities, there’s plenty of space to try them on a more sedate production line. I don’t know if the next iPhone will be ceramic — in fact, I doubt it will — but their process for making it might yield unique results that are applicable to other product lines.

I couldn’t agree more. The Edition line of watches sells in very low numbers, but it’s where Apple can play with new materials and manufacturing techniques for future products.

I can easily see a 2018 or 2019 iPhone that replaces the scratchtastic Jet Black with a black ceramic shell. And ceramic is radio-transparent, so no antenna lines.