According to Korea’s Electric Times Internet, “the next flagship phones of the companies are expected to adopt unprecedented materials for their main bodies, that is, ceramic for the Galaxy S3 and liquidmetal for the iPhone5, both being thin, light and highly resistant to external impacts.”

The iPhone is to debut in June during Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference, while the new Galaxy S3, also known as “Milky Way,” is scheduled to be unveiled in London on May 3, 2012.

Citing unnamed industry sources, Korean news site ETnews says Apple will use Liquidmetal technology for the next iPhone, which the outlet boldly claims will be unveiled at Apple’s annual worldwide developers conference.

Apple purchased an exclusive commercial license to Liquidmetal in late 2010. The technology, which Apple has used only for the SIM ejector tool it includes with some iPhone and iPad models, is billed as a metallic glass.

ETnews adds that Apple will not be alone in using a new material for its flagship handset. Citing the same sources, it says Apple rival Samsung plans to use ceramics for its Galaxy S3 smartphone, which is expected to be unveiled next month.

A Revolutionary Class of Materials

Liquidmetal alloys are a revolutionary class of materials that redefine performance, process, and design paradigms. Liquidmetal alloys represent the first enabling materials technology since the creation of thermoplastics and possess characteristics that make them superior in many ways to other popular high performance materials. First, they have an “amorphous” atomic structure, which is unprecedented for bulk structural metals. Second, they include a multi-component chemical compositions, which are optimized for various properties and processes. Finally, our metal alloys are the first commericially available metals with process technologies similar to plastics.

The technology of Liquidmetal alloys provides for the optimization of properties for specific applications by tailoring the combination of process, chemistry and atomic structure. The technology of Liquidmetal alloys is proprietary and covered by numerous existing or pending patents.

Liquidmetal videos

Learn how Liquidmetal redefines the performance and design pardigms institutionalized by traditional materials

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See the performance difference between Liquidmetal, stainless steel and titanium

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About Liquidmetal Technologies

Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. (OTC:LQMT) shares are trading sharply on Wednesday on rumors that Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) for its iPhone 5 is planning to shift its smartphone designs from glass to liquidmetal.

Patentlyapple.com citing Korea’s Electric Times Internet reported, “the next flagship phones of the companies are expected to adopt unprecedented materials for their main bodies, that is, ceramic for the Galaxy S3 and liquidmetal for the iPhone5, both being thin, light and highly resistant to external impacts.”

The company reported d total revenue of $246,000 for the latest year, compared with $4.74 million reported in 2010. LQMT’s product revenue for 2011 was $227,000, up from $40,000 reported in the previous year. Revenue from licensing and royalties totaled $19,000 in 2011.

Gross profit for 2011 totaled $87,000. The company’s net income for 2011 was $10.61 million, compared with $52,000 reported for 2010.

Shares of the company slumped in early April after disappointing results. The stock was down over 50% after reporting earnings and made a new 52-week low of $0.12. The stock is up over 41% so far this year and plunged 62% over the past one year.

The stock is now trading higher by 30% to $0.195 on over 6.24 million shares, compared to its average volume of 2.37 million shares.

Liquidmetal Technologies, Inc. is engaged in the business of developing, manufacturing, and marketing products made from amorphous alloys. The Company’s Liquidmetal family of alloys consists of a variety of coatings, powders, bulk alloys, and composites that utilize the advantages offered by amorphous alloy technology. Liquidmetal Technologies markets and sells Liquidmetal alloy industrial coatings and also manufactures, markets and sells products and components from bulk Liquidmetal alloys that can be incorporated into the finished goods of its customers across a variety of industries.

Via  Patently Apple