The iPhone 4 To Use Advanced Ceramics?

It's looking more and more like there will be an update to Apple's venerable iPhone product. There are now scads of photos of the new phone--whether it's still in prototype stage or not is debatable--and it definitely looks different, as you can see from the photo above. Many tech pundits have pointed to a 2006 Apple patent filing,

A portable computing device capable of wireless communications, the portable computing device comprising: an enclosure that surrounds and protects the internal operational components of the portable computing device, the enclosure including a structural wall formed from a ceramic material that permits wireless communications through.

which indicates the company is at least looking at using a zirconia ceramic material for the backing. This move makes a lot of sense, since it a ceramic material can, of course, be made to be extremely strong and heat-resistant. And its structural nature allows for it to be much more conducive to being a phone body component than metal, which can interfere with radio waves.

It could be another high-profile coup for the technical ceramics industry if the great minds at Apple chose to use zirconia ceramics in its flagship device. I guess we can only wait and see!