There have been rumours of Apple considering a design shift for a while - more specifically, a shift from the iconic aluminum currently dominating their iPads and almost their entire Mac line minus the Macbook. These rumours have been going on for years, as early as November 2008. However, we now have a bit more concrete proof that Apple may in fact be working on carbon fiber designs after all, and they're bound to look a lot better than the carbon fiber stickers donning the Macbook in the above photograph.
9to5Mac reported yesterday afternoon on the recent hire of Kevin Kenney as Apple's Senior Composites Engineer. Until last month, Kenney was the president and CEO of Kestrel Bicycles, a manufacturer of bicycles with carbon fiber frames. Kenney was no recent stranger to Apple, having worked on an patent filed in 2009 for a housing made from carbon fiber reinforced plastic. At the time, Kenney was working as a consultant to Apple, and filed the patent on their behalf.
It should be noted that there are already laptops with carbon fiber bodies on the market today, such as Sony's Vaio X ultraportables. Nevertheless, it could be interesting to see what unique twist Apple will take with its products, as it did with its current unibody enclosures for the Macbook Pro and Air.
Image Credit: Slashgear
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