Alongside the iPhone Duo, its first foldable, whose grade 5 titanium enclosure carries a 3D printed hinge cover, Apple released its Apple Watch Ultra 4, reinforcing its commitment to building environmental-friendly products.
The watch is made with 45 percent recycled material overall, including 100 percent recycled titanium in its 3D printed titanium case and 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery.
According to the company, the electricity used to manufacture the watch is sourced from renewable energy across the supply chain. The watch comes in natural and black titanium, starts at $799 and reaches stores this week, as of 18 September.
As a reminder, last year, the company moved the entire case production of Apple Watch Ultra 3 and of the titanium Series 11 to 3D printing, using 100 percent recycled aerospace-grade titanium powder, while the iPhone Air received a 3D printed titanium USB-C port.
3D printing a structural case for a device that must be water resistant, drop tested and dimensionally identical across millions of units underscores how crucial qualification matters here to deliver the promise.
And to achieve that, a key focus was made on the selected material: half the raw titanium per case, and more than 400 metric tons of raw titanium saved in a single year.
While no information has yet to be shared on the exact process, machines or suppliers behind these production applications, we can’t help but think that maybe Apple is becoming the adidas of our industry.
Ever since adidas started using AM, it has kept releasing products built with the technology, at least one per year, usually in a limited collection. Apple now looks similar. The only difference is that it is not a small one, the product is mass produced and not available in limited collections as with adidas’ products.
That said, the question we raised about the hinge cover applies here too: Was additive chosen for the aesthetic, for the material savings, or because the part could not be made any other way?
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