We have already read rumors about a foldable iPhone several times. Corresponding patents have already confirmed Apple's work. Now there are new details.
Apple now has many confirmed patents covering aspects of a potential foldable iPhone. One of these granted patents was "Electronic devices with sliding, expandable displays." According to the documentation, Apple appears to have updated this patent. The same title, written by the same three inventors, is a subtle duplication of some key details of the idea. It's also an expansion of some parts and could overall indicate that Apple is now more specific about what the company intends to produce. However, the core of the patent, and now also the patent application, remains the same. The description states:
Apple Patent: New version avoids ambiguity
Electronic devices often contain displays. A touchscreen display may be used in a mobile phone or other portable device to display information to a user and capture user input. If care is not taken, a display may not provide enough space to display the information that the user is interested in. At the same time, it can be difficult to make electronic devices too large to accommodate larger displays because this can make the devices too bulky.
The first version – the original version – states:
This proposal refers to a device with opposite front and back panels.
Specifically, it could mean a book-like device that can be folded open. Alternatively, however, it could describe an iPhone that has a second display on the back of the device. In comparison, the updated version avoids this ambiguity and adds a broader, more comprehensive range of possibilities. It states that the electronic device "has a housing that is configured to move between a folded and unfolded state."
Apple describes foldable iPhone
The updated version keeps retracting earlier details to broaden the scope of the patent application. For example, a section describing "a flexible substrate for receiving a pixel array" has been deleted. But the drawings in the new version are unchanged, as is the general description of what Apple is proposing. It describes a foldable iPhone where unfolding the display means revealing a previously hidden screen.
A portion of a flexible display may be housed in an interior region of the enclosure when the enclosure is in the unfolded state. When unfolded, the flexible display may have one or more bends and may retract upon itself one or more times.
This version of the patent is also attributed to three inventors. This includes Michael B. Wittenberg, who has already made a proposal for a foldable iPhone with gear hinges. (Photo by lcs813 / Bigstockphoto)
