If you’re thinking of buying a foldable phone, your biggest concern is probably its durability – these flexible, high-end phones certainly won’t survive too many bends before breaking, right?
Well, foldables have come in leaps and bounds since the original Samsung Galaxy Fold, but it’s clearly something Apple is looking into and a new patent, discovered by Patently Apple (opens in new tab)shows a bending furniture with some durability tricks.
This patent shows a folding phone — different images show different form factors, so it’s unclear if it’s the iPhone Flip or any other device — with an extra layer over the screen that fills in all the micro-cracks that form due to bending.
These small cracks can turn into larger-scale screen cracks, and fixing the problem early reduces the risk of this happening. In theory, this technology could also be used for screens on non-foldable phones, although there is less risk of cracking over time.
Review: Apple doing what it does
Apple has a reputation for committing to new technology only when it knows it’s ready. That’s why it’s often too late to follow trends, especially recently with 5G and high refresh rate displays.
It’s likely that the company is also taking this approach for foldable phones. The first device of its kind was released in 2019, and Apple’s version likely won’t arrive anytime soon – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the original Galaxy Fold was a disaster, with early test units breaking down in a variety of ways. ways.
However, we now have a few generations of the foldable Samsung, and the company has refined its foldable technology and released several very capable devices, while Apple is still twiddling its thumbs with nothing to show for it. So maybe in this case I’m acting a little also shy, though this patent suggests it’s working on ways to ensure its foldable phones, when they appear, are extremely durable.
We don’t expect to add the iPhone Flip to our list of the best iPhones anytime soon, but we do hope that when they do come, they’ll be worth the wait.
