A recent patent application filed by Apple that was published last week outlines a process for vaporizing a solid substance, which has led to some sensational headlines from media all over the world suggesting that Apple might be manufacturing an iVape to be used with recreational marijuana.
The abstract from the patent application states the following:
A chamber body is to receive therein a substance that is to be vaporized or sublimated into a vapor. A plate whose bottom face rests on the substance inside the chamber body is temperature regulated, e.g., using a heater therein, which releases heat directly above the substance that lies below. The plate slides downward as the substance is consumed by vaporization or sublimation. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
Before you get too excited, the folks over at MacRumors are fairly confident that they’ve debunked the consumer marijuana iVape theory. From MacRumors:
The patent instead relates to a semiconductor device fabrication process Apple uses to create chips for its devices. The application describes a canister that can be used to vaporize or sublimate a substance, which in Apple’s case would be for delivering substances to a substrate during the deposition or etching process.
The patent’s assigned inventor Tetsuya Ishikawa, a senior manager at Apple in the nanotechnology field, lists photolithography as one of his skills on his LinkedIn profile. He also holds several other patents related to semiconductor fabrication. So, in the end, it is pretty safe to say, no, Apple is not working on a vape.
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. But who knows, maybe they really are desperate to reverse the money they’ve been losing with the decline in iPhone sales.
