Apple has successfully been granted a patent on Tuesday for "flexible display devices," which seems to suggest that we could soon see Apple potentially release a bendable iPhone in the future.
Apple's Bendable Phone Patents
The patent was filed back in 2014, Tech Times previously reported, to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Apple's patent proposes a device bendable by design with an OLED screen.
All iterations of Apple's iPhone have so far been progressively similar in that they all retain the "candybar" form factor. If Apple is indeed tinkering with the idea of a bendable smartphone, then this is the first time again in history that we'll see a clamshell form factor, very much like flip phones.
Call this guess work, however, since Apple could pretty much unveil an entirely new form factor against our expectations, now that they've been granted the patent.
CNET has reached out Apple but the company hasn't issued an official comment as of this time.
Bending Mechanisms
Per the patents illustrations, the purported device is able to do quite a number of bending mechanisms.
One such mechanism (PDF, fig. 4) of the device, thanks to its hinge formed using a three-bar linkage arrangement, sees both halves of the screen retracted backward in such a way that the device has both screens on either planes, as if folding a flip phone in reverse, with the screen running continuously from one side to the other.
Another mechanism sees the device with its flexible display folded face-to-face (Fig. 3).
Another one sees the device folded Lenovo Yoga style, forming a tent-like shape, with the screen folded in a reflex angle, facing upward. (Fig. 9). There's quite a number of interesting designs for this foldable device, and Apple could implement a few more hinges in such a way that the smartphone can fold into thirds or quarters instead of simply in halves.
Will Apple Release A Bendable iPhone?
Patents may either mean that a company is intent on executing the design depicted in the patent itself, or that it is simply ensuring a shoe-in of an original idea before anyone else thinks of patenting the same thing. Not every patent is surefire indication of a future release, so it remains to be seen what Apple intends to do with its granted patent.
However, Apple surely needs to speed it up before other companies eclipse it, one being Samsung, which has been reported to be developing bendable smartphones for a 2017 release. Other companies treading the path to bendable devices are Lenovo, Xiaomi and LG.
Do you think bendable screens are the future of smartphones? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
