The next generation of CNC will be 3D printing, at least in the field of consumer electronics.
At the beginning of history, let’s first see how CNC went from “darkness” to key technology for consumer electronics today. Let us return fifteen years ago, to be precise, of the first stages of the development of the Apple supply chain.
In fact, CNC machine tools existed decades ago, but as each unit costs more than $ 500,000, the range of applications is relatively niche and is mainly used for small amounts of product prototypes. Until 2008, the designer of Apple Jonathan Ive introduced the CNC process to the manufacture of the MacBookPro body, and the entire aluminum plate was treated and molded by stamping and cutting. It is reported that to carry out large-scale mass production, Apple has injected billions of dollars to suppliers such as Foxconn and Jabil, and has almost bought more than 10,000 CNC machine tools in the world.
Subsequently, almost all Apple products on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV used this process. The Android camp has also followed suit. Apple bets on CNC, reshaping the rules of the game for the whole industry.
Today, more than a decade later, CNC has gone from consumer electronics to essential technology in manufacturing. From the manufacture of aerospace precision parts to large -scale production in the automotive industry, high precision treatment of medical devices with miniaturized manufacturing of electronic devices, CNC is everywhere.
Nowadays, 3D printing increases along the CNC success path, and it can even be considered “replacement” CNC.
In July 2023, the well-known analyst of the Ming-Chi Kuo industry published an article revealing that Apple will use 3D printing technology to produce structural titanium alloy parts in the new Apple Watch ultra published in the second half of this year. The same month, Honor published the tree cover of the Magicv2 Mobicv2 Mobile phone hinge also uses 3D printing technology in titanium alloy.
When time arrives at 2025, more and more new “surfaces”.
February 13Oppo has officially published the thinnest flagship phone in the world in N5 in Marina’s Bay Park.March 6Guo Mingchi published an article revealing that the hinge cover and the intermediate frame (NPI) of the iPhone folding screen are both 3D printed in titanium alloy.March 7Guo Mingchi again said that Xiaomi will launch the new Xiaomi 16 Pro flagship model at the end of 2025, will also use 3D printing metal chalices.
And who will be the next mobile phone manufacturer to follow? Huawei, Samsung or Vivo? Maybe the answer is everything.
For the moment, you can have a question: why should the hinges and intermediate frames of the mobile phone be made using 3D printing? The reason is very simple – becauseEquipment required for mobile phonesIt has changed and transforms aluminum alloys and stainless steel into titanium alloys. However, because titanium alloys have low thermal conductivity, high hardness and high chemical reactivity,The traditional CNC treatment is extremely difficult. In addition, the hinges of folding screen phones have extremely high requirements for slimming and precision,3D printing titanium alloy technologyThis production request can be better satisfied.
Here, we directly quote Guo Mingchi’s comment: “The main advantage of Xiaomi 16 PRO using 3D printing to make the central framework of a mobile phone is that thanks to a precise hollow design, it can achieve the weight and improvement of rigidity without affecting the force of the average frame.” At the same time, he also said: “Once the production of 3D printing and middle across production will bring more cost advantages than traditional processes, manufacturers of mobile phone brands will adopt this technology more actively.”
Guo Mingchi thinks that this trend is not unprecedented. In the past, before Apple uses CNC technology to make a MacBook integrated metal case, the industry generally thought that CNC was difficult to apply to consumer electronics. And now we can see that 3D printing, just like CNC in the past, has gone from “impossible” to “possible”.
The Apple supply chain cannot be separated from the manufacture of China, and Platinum becomes the largest winner
By thinking about the history of Apple’s development, Chinese manufacturing has always been an essential part. It is understood that more than 95% of iPhones, AirPods, Mac and Ipads are currently produced in China. In addition, Apple’s revenues came from the Chinese market, representing one fifth of its total income.
If Foxconn was the largest manufacturer of Apple manufacturing OEM in the CNC era, then the era of 3D printing can be platinum. According to Guo Mingchi, the main Chinese 3D metal printing company, Berlit will play a key role in the iPhone supply chain with folding screen and will become the main beneficiary. It has also calculated the calculation: at present, the unit price of the bearing cover and the average frame sample produced per bowl is around 800 to 900 yuan.
If it is calculated on the basis of the shipment of 20 million iphones in the first generation of foldable screens and the proportion of Belite in the supply chain reached 80%, then from 2026 to 2027, this project should contribute to 8 billion RMB of income in Belite. In comparison, Berlit’s revenues in 2024 should be around 1.2 billion RMB. This means that from 2026, Berlit’s performance should inaugurate significant growth.
The resource library also believes that Berlit will become the ultimate winner of this 3C electronic transformation. According to previous reports, be it the foldable screen phone that Honor and Oppo have already published, or the new products that Apple and Xiaomi are about to publish, the main suppliers have indicated the same name: Platinum.
Unlike the past, the supply chain for traditional mobile phones manufacturers often separates devices from devices and manufacturing suppliers, while Platinum breaks this model. It is both a manufacturer of equipment and a manufacturer, and it has a unique advantage in the industrial chain. However, it cannot be excluded that when the capacity is in ruin, mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple will choose to establish their own production lines or entrust OEM factories similar to Foxconn for direct production.
It is perhaps precisely because the market is optimistic about the prospects for applying 3D printing in the 3C field which, at the time of the press, the share of Berlit increased by 8.38% to 90 yuan, with a total market value of 24.459 billion yuan, ranking first among global companies on 3D printing. At the same time, the course of action by Huashu Hi-Tech, another company listed in 3D on science and technology innovation board, increased by 8.59%, reaching 54 yuan, with a total market value of 22.365 billion yuan, ranking second in the world.
Currently, on the road to the next generation of mobile titanium alloy phones, mobile phone manufacturers have chosen between 3D printing and the CNC, and 3D printing earns more votes.
Back to the industry itself, this breakthrough in the field of 3C electronics application has broken the “curse” according to which 3D printing cannot be produced in large scale, and the 3D printing spring arrives.
