While the latest iterations of the iPhone might have left Apple fanboys and critics unimpressed, they’re now hanging by the thin thread of hope. The hope of Apple revealing a completely redesigned and feature-packed iPhone for its tenth anniversary next year.
And now to add fuel to the same, patents pointing to the extremely interesting prospect of foldable iPhones have surfaced on the interwebs. This is, however, not the first time that Cupertino has been awarded a patent for a smartphone that is flexible and can be bent from the middle.
Three years after filing the paperwork, Apple has finally been granted the patent for a foldable or bendable iPhone, reports Patently Apple. The publication has spotted two European patent filings dating back up to 2013 which detail the know-hows and details for this futuristic smartphone.
Th patents filings mention that the Cupertino giant is expected to use carbon nanotubes to give this new smartphone its basic form factor. The company is also suspected of using ceramic(used by Xiaomi in its bezel-less concept phone) to develop the bendable form factor for the iPhone. The device with a flexible seam will bend at the center with help from a support hinge.
Further expanding on the application of carbon nanotubes in this future iPhone, the patent filing reads:
Electronic devices may be provided with carbon nanotube structures or other structures based on carbon (e.g., graphene structures, carbon-fiber structures having carbon fibers other than carbon nanotubes, etc.).
Carbon nanotubes can form conductive paths for printed circuits or other flexible substrates such as substrates associated with touch sensors and displays and can form structural components in an electronic device.
The important info that one should remember from this patent filing is that carbon nanotubes could form the basis of this smartphone. It will most likely not only be used to shape the phone but including the same within signal lines traversing the bent portions of the circuit will help prevent cracks. The information about the existence and development of such a futuristic iPhone is still scarce but we’ll update you once we gather more intel.
Also, if you think Apple is the only one working on flexible displays and bendable smartphones, then you’re highly mistaken, my friend. Korean giant Samsung is the one who started this trend and piqued the curiosity of customers with the demo of its bendable displays at the show floor of CES a couple years back. The company has not only filed for multiple patents detailing its foldable smartphones but teaser videos showing off the same have also surfaced on the interwebs.
Well, as always, we’ll advise you to take these developments with a grain of salt. There is no guarantee if Apple’s plan of making a bendable iPhone will be successful in the future or not.
