Apple revealed in the environmental aspect of its iPhone Air press release this week that the new model is equipped with a titanium alloy USB-C interface made using a 3D printing process. Apple said that compared with USB-C interfaces made by traditional forging processes, 3D printed titanium alloy interfaces have three major advantages -Thinner, stronger, and can save 33% of materials in the manufacturing process, making it more environmentally friendly.
The so-called metal 3D printing, also known as metal additive manufacturing, is an innovative process that gradually builds a target structure based on a CAD model by stacking metal powder layer by layer. Despite this manufacturing innovation, the iPhone Air's USB-C port still only supports the outdated USB 2 standard for wired data transfer, with a maximum transfer rate of 480Mb/s.
Apple also revealed that the titanium cases of Apple Watch Ultra 3 and high-end Apple Watch Series 11 also use a 3D printing process, and the new process uses only half the raw materials of previous generations of products.
It is reported that iPhone Air will be available for pre-order this Friday (5 a.m. Pacific time), and the new Apple Watch series is now open for pre-order in the United States and many countries. The official launch date for the above-mentioned devices is Friday, September 19th.