Patently Apple is reporting Apple has been granted patents for a curved screen design in the same style as the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. Apple first applied for the patent back in 2013, but now that it has been granted, speculation suggests Apple’s next major design revamp will include the curved glass screen.
Here’s the twist with Apple’s patent: it covers far more than just a curved screen like the one that the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has. Apple’s patent is for a flexible display, meaning not only can both sides of Apple’s new iPhone 7 be used as part of the screen, but the display itself can be molded into whatever shape Apple would want. Meaning, the new iPhone 7 could be cylinder shaped, or a sphere, should Apple decide to go that way, but the important thing to take away is that Apple now has the power to make a phone that is a 100-percent display.
Combined with Apple’s new 3D Touch technology, the haptic feedback could make an entirely glass iPhone actually viable, replacing the lock, home and volume buttons with designated areas on the display.
Another possibility Apple now has with the flexible display is to design a feature that would allow viewing 3D videos on an iPhone. Essentially, because of the new display’s ability to bend, Apple could fit a second display underneath the first display. By doing this, plus some clever programming, the two screens could be played temporally against each other, mimicking a 3D experience by creating the illusion of depth. The second display would be folded inside the bigger, outside display.
Apple was granted a couple other patents as well, including a gesture based system to allow for password entry. This is different from Android’s gesture based system for password entry by including illuminated dots, invisible touch-sensing areas, or a combination of graphical elements with touch-sensing areas. Meaning, it’s not which dots are activated, but how the user activates those dots: does the user loop around the middle dot three times, before selecting the bottom dot, or does the user simply swipe all the way to the bottom.
This patent was designed with TouchID in mind. TouchID is currently the main security safeguard that Apple uses for the virtual wallet, and if Apple could install a second safeguard that wouldn’t be obnoxious, it could allow better market penetration.
