Apple plans larger extreme sports Apple Watch with rugged metal case, larger display

Is Apple finally planning on using Liquidmetal in a product’s casing? The company reportedly plans its largest smartwatch display to date, with a bigger battery, and “a rugged metal casing” in an upcoming Apple Watch for extreme sports athletes, Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman reports Wednesday, citing “people with knowledge of the plans.”
Apple Watch Series 7 (left) display size vs. Apple Watch Series 6 (right)
Apple has a perpetual, exclusive license to use Liquidmetal Technologies in consumer electronics.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:

The rugged version of the Apple Watch will get a screen that measures almost 2 inches diagonally, while a new, standard Apple Watch Series 8 will keep the 1.9-inch diagonal screen size of the current Apple Watch Series 7.
The extreme sports watch will use a strong metal material rather than aluminum, have a more shatter-resistant screen and include a larger battery compared with standard Apple Watches — letting athletes track workouts for longer periods of time, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the watch details haven’t been announced.
The display size increase for the rugged model will be the third in the history of the Apple Watch. The company expanded the device’s screen in 2018 with Series 4 and again last year with Series 7. The nearly 2-inch display on the rugged model will make the screen one of the largest offerings from a mainstream smartwatch maker.

MacDailyNews Take: If ever there was a time for Liquidmetal to finally appear in an Apple product beyond an iPhone SIM ejector, this would be it. That said, cost (and manufacturing capacity) may be an issue, so we’ll have to wait and see. Even if the “Apple Watch Extreme” uses titanium, it will be a costly model. Currently, the 45mm Titanium Apple Watch Series 7 costs $849. The 50mm “Apple Watch Extreme” would seem to slot in around $999 in Titanium. Your guess is as good as ours how much it would cost in a Liquidmetal case, but a relatively high price might be well worth it as such a case (2.5X stronger than titanium) would likely prove to be pretty near indestructible.
See also:
• Apple Watch patent applications cover use of Liquidmetal and polymers – March 27, 2020
• Apple patent describes Liquidmetal housing for electronic devices – January 27, 2017
• Apple’s exclusive Liquidmetal pact could see future Apple products encased in metallic glass – August 11, 2010
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