This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about a possible foldable iPhone. However, what we bring to you at the moment is not a rumor about the possible existence of a device with these characteristics. We are talking about the inclusion of a patent generated and registered by Apple in which the possibility of creating a case-style iPhone is mentioned but with a chassis that would make it very special. Suppose it is sensitive to touch. For the moment it is a patent, but that supposes the foundations on a likely release of a new iPhone model.
Imagine the possibility of having a foldable iPhone in your hands. You have surely thought of it more than once, especially when Samsung launched its shell-shaped terminal on the market. We already know all the problems it had and the price it was released at, but we also know that even though It is not a very sold terminal, It attracts a lot of attention because it is a smart screen capable of folding and increasing its size in proportion to the way it is unfolded. Of course, we are very clear that it is unlikely to occupy much length but it will be wide and that is a nuisance today.
But imagine that Apple launches it in the market and they also tell you that its chassis is touch sensitive and equipped with virtual buttons. All of this is what has been recorded in the new patent that has been filed. We already know that being a patent, it may not come true and remain an idea, but it is something.
Filed by Apple in April 2021 and approved this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the new patent explores ideas for “electronic devices containing display structures and touch sensors” and considers how parties to a device could function as input surfaces to increase the display or for use when the screen is folded.
It describes how display layers and touch sensor layers could be “layered” on the exterior panels of a device, and how touch sensors could pass under a layer of glass along the front, bottom and of the “”curved side walls” of a device, ior hinting at the potential for touch input throughout the exterior chassis.