The launch of Apple’s folding mobile phone is only a matter of time. And it seems that that time is coming in the light of a new patent that leaves us with a device that is unique in design and operation.
We have been talking about the foldable iPhone for five years. Many analysts find it strange that Apple has not yet entered this market, although it is known that the Cupertino firm leads its own pace as we have seen with the Vision Pro mixed reality viewer. Its idea (and marketing) when it arrives later than the competition to any new technology is well known: Others have done it first, but we will do it better.
What we know so far about this device came from a foldable and/or dual-screen iPhone patent. It was published on the United States Patent and Trademark website and seemed like a general patent that covered virtually all possibilities in form factors: clamshell; with two or three screens; with folded in or out, and with both interior and exterior screens of the device.
Apple’s foldable mobile phone appears in a new patent
The new patent is much more concrete than the previous one and shows a innovative hinge design for this iPhone. The design is quite similar to the folding clamshell model of the Motorola Razr or Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip, the best-selling in its segment.
However, the hinge mechanism used is different and novel, with a greater range of motion, as it would potentially allow The device will fold in both directions, that is, inwards and outwards. It would be a unique device, since we do not know of any foldable with that capacity.
According to leaked patent images, this folding mechanism could be applied to a wide range of devices (including iPad and MacBook) and not just mobile phones. The patent images also show that the hinge would have timing gear plates with interlocking teeth, allowing for a “synchronized rotational movement between the left and right halves of the hinge”.
It is obvious that the hinge and the screen are the key points in these foldables. And they gave other manufacturers problems in the first commercial versions. Apple wants a device that can withstand a minimum of 100,000 folds/unfolds. As for screens, it will depend on the best folding technology that is available at the time of production, but it will surely use flexible OLED panels from LG with which it has a supply contract.
