Apple granted patent for a bendable iPhone screen
It looks like Apple is working on an iPhone that can bend in the middle. According to tech site Patently Apple, Apple has managed to get the patent for the bendable and foldable mobile screen technology that the Cupertino giant has been exploring since 2013.
The site explains that this new patent shows “a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device such as a future iPhone that bends along a flexible portion such as a flexible seam associated with a hinge.”
All the technical details are included in the patent such as how a bendable screen would work, but it seems like it is basically a new technology that would be centred on conductive carbon nanotube structures that are flexible and resistant to strong pressure and cracks.
From the patent:
Conductive carbon nanotube paths can form signal paths that are flexible and resistant to cracking. The carbon nanotube structures may be incorporated into signal cables such as flexible printed circuit cables, rigid printed circuit boards, printed circuits that include rigid portions with flexible tails (sometimes referred to as “rigid flex”), portions of display structures, portions of touch sensors such as capacitive touch sensor arrays for displays or track pads, camera structures, antenna structures, housing structures, internal device structures, electrical components, substrates, brackets, housing walls, other structures, or combinations of these structures.
While patents are filed all the time, it is not necessary that every patent is converted into a finished commercial product or even a prototype. Whether or not, we will be able to a foldable iPhone from Apple, only time will tell.
To late Apple, Samsung showed bendable phones at 2013 CES and even had a prototype in this commercial ad from 2013. Samsung is actually due to release a bendable phone sometime next year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAAie_Zf1pU