Oliver Haslam on March 14, 2020, 7:26 am

New Apple Patent Envisions Solution For Foldable Phone Issues

If there is one thing that all foldable phones have in common, it’s the fact that they have unsightly creases where their screens fold. It’s just something that is unavoidable with current technology, and while some manage it better than others, no phone is perfect.

A new Apple patent might take things in a slightly different direction, though.

Foldable iPhone concept by bad.not.bad (Instagram)

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has a new patent titled System with Multiple Electronic Devices, and it makes for some interesting reading. It was first spotted by AppleInsider, and might go the route of using two displays that act as one, rather than making one display fold back on itself. Proximity sensors would be used to tell the displays when they are open or closed.

“Multiple electronic devices may be used together in a system,” continues the patent. “The electronic devices may use sensor measurements and other information to detect when an edge of a first electronic device is adjacent to an edge of a second electronic device.”

Magnets would also be used as a way of making two displays appear as one single pane of glass, presumably preventing them from moving away from each other during use. Other companies have suggested this is the way to go before, although none have brought a product to market yet.

Magnetic components may hold devices together in a variety of orientations. The magnetic components may operate in cooperation with beveled housing edges and other structures to help hold devices in planar configurations in which the devices lie in a common plane and non-planar configurations in which the devices are oriented at a non-zero angle with respect to each other.

Apple is surely looking into making a folding iPhone or iPad at some point, but it’s unlikely to look or behave like any of the devices that are currently on the market. The number of compromises is just too high and too obvious to the customer. It’s also important to remember that not all patents turn into products, especially where Apple is concerned.

(Source: USPTO | Via: AppleInsider)