Supplier: Apple will make glass with metal frame iPhone next year

According to the CEO of a supplier, Apple is making an iPhone with a glass back and a metal frame. The supplier should know, because it currently produces the metal housing of the current iPhones.

It is unknown whether it is a metal frame that is visible in the design or whether it is a design with glass all around. The director of Catch Technology said after a shareholders’ meeting on Thursday, according to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei, that Apple is working on a model with glass design. It will still have a metal frame, so that his company will still earn from it.

The rumor of an iPhone with a glass design has been around for some time. The metal design would no longer feel ‘modern and fresh’, now that almost every smartphone manufacturer uses metal in the design, including in devices that cost a quarter of what an iPhone costs.

Apple is Catcher Technology’s main customer and accounts for one-third of the supplier’s revenue. According to the director, the glass design requires a sturdy metal frame, which means that Apple still needs the products from Catcher.

It is striking that a supplier speaks out about a future iPhone. Apple imposes strict NDAs on involved companies that prohibit them from speaking about what they know about upcoming smartphone models from Apple.

The combination of glass design and metal frame is common in the smartphone market. For example, Sony has been using it in its Xperia Z models since 2013, while Xiaomi and Samsung have been using it since last year. The 2010 iPhone 4 also featured a combination of metal and glass in its design.