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Wouldn't be surprised if it had more to do with their expertise with carbon fibre than anything else. You're not going to find anyone with more expertise with t
by a_j_b 10y ago
Wouldn't be surprised if it had more to do with their expertise with carbon fibre than anything else. You're not going to find anyone with more expertise with that material than F1 teams.
- buro9 10y agoI suspect this too. I remember a top notch cycling company that produced carbon components working with Apple too for the same reason. My Google-fu failed me though, I could not find a reference to it and it was 5-7 years ago.
- arethuza 10y agoPagani have a separate company dedicated to carbon composite manufacturing and consulting - they came up with the "carbotanium" bonded carbon composites and titanium used in the Huayra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbotanium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbotanium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagani_Huayra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagani_Huayra Pagani make McLaren look mass market!
- stcredzero 10y agoCarbotanium is my favorite canobtanium. I wonder what McLaren can achieve when it puts its mind to reducing production costs?
- bwilliams18 10y agoThey've said before that they have proprietary techniques that allow them to produce the CF for their road cars at scale more affordably.
- stcredzero 10y agoCombine this with Tesla's acquisition of CF expertise, and I would wager that more CF is going to be used in electric vehicles in the near future, providing even greater range.
- msandford 10y agoBravo man, bravo.
- crispyambulance 10y agoPagani cars also look like they've been designed by 11 year old boys on a sugar-high.
- arethuza 10y agoThat's a bad thing? :-)
- ActsJuvenile 10y agoObviously; anyone with standards prefers cars designed by 16 years olds on cough syrup high.
- crispyambulance 10y agoNot necessarily, but very few people can pull off THAT level ostentatiousness and keep a straight face. I am glad we live in a world where such things can exist, but I wouldn't own one even if it were free.
- beachstartup 10y agopeople who drive around in cars like that don't have to keep a straight face. they're laughing all the way to the bank.
- DannyBee 10y agoMaybe. Note that these kinds of composites are exceedingly common these days. Like "I can buy it online from amazon.com" common for some and "random online metals shop" for others. Now certainly, not what Apple's gonna do, but more in the point of "there's a very very large set of companies with large amounts of expertise in this". I have pretty strong doubts you'd go to mclaren for it.
- artimaeis 10y agoThe same can be said for aluminum, but still Apple is known for doing some of the best work in the world with the material.
- rfrey 10y agoApple's cases are nice, but "the best work in the world with [aluminum]" is a real stretch. They're not complicated or high precision, they're computer cases. There are people making turbines with aluminum, and medical equipment, and machine parts that are accurate to an order of magnitude more than Apple's pretty phone case.
- jonknee 10y agoYou can buy a lot of materials, but knowing how to manufacturer with them is a different skill. BMW has more experience with carbon in automobiles, but that's a whole other level of acquisition. McLaren built an entire car out of carbon fiber. Good luck figuring that out from your Amazon purchases. https://www.wired.com/2016/06/mclarens-675lt-supercar-somehow-gets-even-moar-carbon-fiber/ https://www.wired.com/2016/06/mclarens-675lt-supercar-someho...
- rccrv 10y agoBMW, McLaren and friends probably simply buy all the carbon fiber they use from Toray. Just like Boeing do. If McLaren has some production, it's probably not more than a pilot plant.
- 10y ago
- jaziek 10y agoI suspect this has to do with their battery expertise as much as anything else. If Apple is looking to get into the Electric car game, the McLaren would be an especially good acquisition.
- Fricken 10y agoSo long as money is no object, you're probably right. Apple reportedly took great interest in BMWs carbon fibre mass production processes during the early stages of Project Titan, when Apple was rumoured to be courting BMW for a potential partnership. http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/209812-how-bmw-weaves-bakes-and-builds-the-carbon-fiber-7-series http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/209812-how-bmw-weaves-bak... I'm not sure what use Apple would potentially have for carbon fibre anything outside of mass production. Edit: http://jalopnik.com/apple-is-definitely-not-buying-mclaren-mclaren-says-1786901624 http://jalopnik.com/apple-is-definitely-not-buying-mclaren-m...
- jonlucc 10y agoPerhaps next year's iPhone. I've been thinking about how they can go to wireless charging without looking cheap. I think carbon fiber could be a decent replacement for the metal.