After several weeks of speculation about what exactly a product known as the “brick” could be, 9to5Mac.com has put an end to the speculation.

According to the rumour site the “brick” refers to the manufacturing process that Apple is employing to build the new MacBooks. Previously Apple outsourced the manufacturing to plants such as Foxconn in China but the company has reportedly spent years building its own manufacturing process that uses lasers and jets of to cut out a MacBook shell from a “brick” of aluminium.

9to5Mac goes onto speculate that such a manufacturing process will give Apple significant advantages over its competition including:

  • Carving out of aluminum eliminates the need to bend the metal and create weak spots or microfolds and rifts.
  • There are no seams in the final product, so it is smooth.
  • Screws aren’t needed to tie the products together.
  • The shell is one piece of metal so it is super light, super strong and super cheap.
  • You can be a whole lot more creative with the design if you don’t have to machine it.

Finally 9to5Mac reminds us that Apple CFO Peter Oppeinheimer recently stated during a conference call that Apple will continue to release innovative products that “Apple’s competitors won’t be able to match”.