The rumours surrounding the Apple Brick just took an unexpected turn. While many were expecting the highly secretive project to be a product, it turns out what Apple’s working on is much more juicy – a whole new way of making computers.
According to 9to5Mac, which broke the original reports of The Brick, it’s a manufacturing process for making computers from a single block of aluminium.
“It is totally revolutionary, a game changer,” the site says, lauding the new process as “one of the biggest Apple innovations in a decade.”
Up until now, Apple has outsourced its manufacturing processes to Chinese or Taiwanese firms. In the past, that has lead to leaks, with spy shots from inside the factory giving hints towards Apple’s new designs. That’s about to stop.
According to 9to5Mac, “the company has spent the last few years building an entirely new manufacturing process that uses lasers and jets of water to carve the MacBooks out of a brick of aluminum… Carving out of aluminum eliminates the need to bend the metal and create weak spots or microfolds and rifts, there are no seams in the final product, so it is smooth, screws aren’t needed to tie the products together, the shell is one piece of metal so it is super light, super strong and super cheap [and] you can be a whole lot more creative with the design if you don’t have to machine it.”
Apple has already dropped hints that something big is coming. Apple’s senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer let slip that an innovation on a scale that “Apple’s competitors won’t be able to match” was in the works during a conference call earlier this year. A whole new manufacturing process, and one that’s exclusive to Apple, certainly fits the bill.
What do you think? Can swanky new manufacturing give Apple an edge in the market? Let us know in the comments section below.
