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Home / News / The iPhone 7 could wave goodbye to plastic strips for good

The iPhone 7 could wave goodbye to plastic strips for good

We never thought they were that bad to be honest

See those plastic strips n the rear of your iPhone 6? They’re there to stop Antenna Gate Episode 2: Revenge of the Dropped Call.

While the iPhone’s premium metal body is lovely you see, it doesn’t do any favours for signal, thanks to the metal’s ability to distort signal and lower reception.

The plastic strips are used to negate this effect, allowing an opening for radio waves to enter and leave the iPhone without being hindered.

A patent filed by Apples suggests that these strips could be gone from the iPhone 7, thanks to a new composite metal material created by using metal oxides.

This means that we could see a truly all-metal iPhone, without compromising on signal strength.

It’s worth remembering that many patents never see the light of day, but seeing as this one isn’t too far fetched, there’s a good chance your next iPhone will see the back of plastic for good.

[USPTO via Business Insider

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Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.