2018 MacBook, Apple Watch To Free Up More Space Inside, Says Kuo

There is only so much you can cram inside an electronics device. Aside from concerns about heat management, manufacturers are often limited by the size of the components they use. It's like a jigsaw puzzle where you try to fit as many components as you can in the most efficient arrangement possible. There are two ways around this problem. The most common is to shrink, or even remove, components to make room for more. The other is to use more or less flexible components, which is what Apple will be doing for next year's line of MacBooks and Apple Watches, or so says the famed Ming-chi Kuo.

Apple already uses such a component in this year's iPhone generation. To be specific, it has employed a liquid crystal polymer flexible printed circuit board, or LCP FPCB, for the iPhone 8 and iPhone X LTE antennas. In addition, it also used in the iPhone X's TrueDepth camera as well.

According to Kuo, Apple is working with one of its suppliers to apply that same technology to its other hardware for 2018. This would have two advantages over the status quo. One is the ability to make more room for other components inside the devices, like, in the case of the MacBook, more I/O ports the adoption of more current standards.

But that's not the only benefit LCP FPCB brings to the table. Another reason Apple has decided to use the technology was for its advertised speed of data transfer and the stability of transmission. It is also advertised to be moisture resistant, increasing the overall water resistance of devices.

VIA: 9to5Mac