Apple is also joining the smartphone gang which is looking to make foldable phones. Well, at least, that’s what the company’s latest patent filing seems to suggest, according to a report by CNET just a few days before the MWC 2019 kicks in.
The timing of the patent comes when brands like Samsung, Huawei and even Xiaomi are expected to debut their respective versions of a foldable device in 2019.
The patent description further adds that the display can be rotated to become a small-sized device, relying on a hinge for the movement. All this clearly suggests that either an iPad-cum-iPhone kind of a device is in the works at the Cupertino-based giant, or at least they have worked out a design strategy to execute a product like that.
The patent reported by CNET has been filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), dated on 14 February, 2019, and includes multiple sketches to work out a visual reference for the supposed design of the device.
The listing also highlights the mechanism around which the supposed device will show its foldable nature.
“Flexible displays may be mounted to the housing portions overlapping the hinges. When the housing portions in a device are rotated relative to each other, the flexible display may bend.
“Hinges may be configured to allow the flexible display to be placed in a front-to-front configuration in which the active side of the display faces itself or a back-to-back configuration in which the active portions of the display face away from each other.”
The idea is to make a larger phone that becomes smaller in size with a help of a foldable display and a hinge.
Patents are usually applied at an early stage of product development cycle, to prevent it from getting copied by the competition.
Even though Apple has applied for this patent, there’s no guarantee that Apple will showcase a product of this nature anytime soon and you could even say that the device you see might never make it to the production line.
But with most smartphone brands working and even ready to showcase their foldable devices, it’s time Apple made its move sooner than later.
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