Flip phone comeback? Apple wins patent for flexible devices
Apple granted patent for ‘flexible display devices.’ Design comparable to once popularized flip phones
Misplacing your smartphone or taking forever to dig it out of a bag can be one of the most annoying parts of owning one, and it appears Apple is aware of this. A newly published patent reveals the Cupertino-based company is developing an iPhone that could grip onto your clothing, making it much harder to lose.
This news is buried inside of a new Apple patent for "Flexible display devices" published Nov. 22. Most of the patent focuses on a foldable iPhone-like device (the patent never mentions the smartphone by name), but the patent notes the device would be able to "grip external objects... for example, an item of the user's clothing."
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The patent notes that the foldable phone would clip onto your clothes using a teeth-like surface. Those teeth "may have a sawtooth profile, a smooth undulating corrugated profile, may be implemented using one or more spikes or hooks." We'd expect the smoother option, as the rest all sound quite un-Apple.
The phone would become attachable when users fold it in half with the screen facing outward. Users could then perform quick actions and commands while the iPhone is attached to their sleeve or somewhere else, similarly to how the Apple Watch lets you instantly respond to a text or quickly view the weather.
iPhone fans eager for the handset to get a newer, updated display should be happy to hear that the patent notes these innovations require a flexible display panel. Specifically, it references OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays, which are rumored to come to the iPhone as soon as next year.
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