A new leak backs up recent claims that the folding iPhone hinge will use Liquid Metal, which is technology Apple has been working on since at least 2010.
In March 2025, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that Apple would "use liquid metal materials for key components" of the iPhone Fold, such as the hinge. Now leaker Fixed Focus Digital on Chinese social media site Weibo, claims that this is confirmed.
The leaker also says, in machine translation, that a prototype has been sent to "global operators" for testing. It presumably means a version with such a hinge is in manufacturing testing, although it's not clear whether it's the same one that has reportedly been causing problems.
It's highly unlikely at this stage that Apple would still be testing two different types of hinge, if the iPhone Fold is to launch in September. But the key part of the leak, that it will use this Liquid Metal technology, is much more likely both because of previous rumors, and Apple's history with the material.
In August 2010, AppleInsider revealed that Apple had entered into an exclusive agreement with a firm called Liquidmetal Technologies. The deal was worth a minimum of $10.9 million, as Liquidmetal Technologies cited these funds as it then immediately paid off that much in debt.
The company's metal alloys, developed at the California Institute of Technology, are said to be more than twice the strength of titanium. It's resistant to corrosion, and is elastic enough to bounce back to an original shape after being pulled or stretched.
Detail from a 2015 patent showing liquid metal being used to mod a device - image credit: Apple
Even in 2010, it was being used to make hinges for flip phones. It was also used for producing lightweight yet durable sporting items, such as tennis rackets.
Liquidmetal Technologies still supplies companies making these, but Apple bought the exclusive right to use it in electronic devices. Then in 2015, Apple renewed the deal.
What Apple did with Liquid Metal
When all iPhones came with physical SIM cards, they also came with SIM trays, and a key-like metal ejection tool to open them. That SIM-tray key was made from Liquid Metal, and so far, this is all that Apple has used it for.
Apple used Liquidmetal to make the SIM ejection tool for iPhones.
But Apple has pursued the technology, including applying for patents that relied on it. Apple also won a patent, together with Liquidmetal Technologies, for manufacturing products layer by layer.
That was in 2015, and to this day Apple has not used the technology in any of its devices. Its properties, though, do seem to make it ideal for a folding iPhone.
It's not clear whether Apple still retains the exclusive right to use liquid metal in electronic devices. However, after 16 years of apparently continued effort, it seems likely.
Which then, though, raises a question over a related rumor about the iPhone Fold hinge. In May 2026, leaker Digital Chat Station claimed that Apple's hinge solution would become an industry standard.
Note that the leaker of this most recent report, Fixed Focus Digital, only has a middling track record, and this is not the first time that this rumor has popped out of the mill.
