Samsung is expected to launch their foldable smartphone come 2019. We’ve also heard reports that other companies such as Huawei are interested in such devices as well. In fact it wasn’t too long ago that it was rumored that Apple might be considering tossing their hat into the ring with a foldable phone of their own.
Of course whether or not they do is an entirely different story, but it seems that Apple is exploring the idea, or at least the concept behind it. According to some reports, it appears that Apple has filed for a patent regarding a specialized coating for displays that are meant to be folded. This coating is meant to protect the display and allow it to bend without damage, especially with repeated use.
While this doesn’t really give us much insight as to what’s the development situation like at Apple regarding this foldable display, it does at the very least show that Apple is interested to a certain extent. Alternatively it could be that Apple might simply be trying to come up with a solution that they can then license or sell to other companies who want to create foldable displays.
The Cupertino company filed a patent which is published by the US Patent & Trademark Office that indicated to coatings “having flake pigments needed to protect the display of a device, such as a future iPhone, that is capable of bending in half without damage.”
This is what an Apple patent indicates to us in which we see a concept of a collapsible terminal that, surprisingly, could do it both inwards and outwards.
As is logical to think, one of the most immediate concerns when thinking about folding screens is the mechanical resistance to this effort, which could be fatal at the point of flexion of the device towards one direction. It would be unimaginable to think that a screen could return to its original state after folding it in two opposite directions.
The patent filed clearly showcases that the future iPhone can be folded into one device having a flexible display. These types of folds are also known in the industry as fold-in or fold-out configurations. The patent was filed in March 2018 and the timing of publishing by the regulatory authority of such a product in the market is unknown at this time.
Apple describes the use of an OLED panel with a surface layer made with a special polymer that once applied to the panel, either by spraying, dipping, or even printing, would provide much better mechanical properties that would allow the panel to be easily manipulated the pair that resistant.
Undoubtedly, there are many unknowns questions that are raised and what we can see in the image, is no more than a simple sketch of what at some point of development could be discarded, or on the contrary, become a prototype
