A recently released patent application unveils Apple’s plans for what could be a drop-down iPhone project.
If these sketches are to be believed, Apple would at least have thought about a drop-down iPhone project // Source: Apple via USPTO
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Where is Apple on its folding iPhone project? If we are to believe Ming Chi Kuo, the device should not see the light of day before 2024 … and by then, the firm could finally opt for a form-factor different. At least that’s what one might think after the USPTO publication (US Patent and Trademark Office) of a patent application first filed by Apple on April 10, 2019.
The latter reveals in detail what the firm describes as “electronic devices with sliding and extendable screens“. We discover many diagrams of devices and hinges allowing the unfolding of a screen on a flat structure. In hollow, what could lead to an iPhone with a scrolling screen is presented there.
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As PhoneArena reminds us, devices of this type are nothing new. Recently Xiaomi and Samsung have also filed for patents relating to smartphones incorporating this concept, just like Huawei. We can also mention the Oppo X 2021, which also benefits from a similar design allowing its display surface to stretch sideways.
In the description of its concept, Apple says more. “Part of a flexible screen may be concealed inside the housing when it is undeployed. When undeployed, the flexible screen can have one or more curvatures and can fold back on itself one or more times», Describes the brand. This description is accompanied by a sketch showing the cross section of a scrolling screen apparatus. In this case, the screen is wrapped around a roll placed inside the device.
If this system has the disadvantage of using complex and potentially fragile mechanics in the long term, it avoids the central folding that we observe on the screen of folding smartphones. We also avoid the problem of wear that can be encountered with their hinge. It remains to be seen whether Apple will use the systems described in its patent application. Nothing allows us to say so far: brands register dozens of them, just for security, without necessarily using them subsequently.
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