Apple gets ever closer to a folding iPhone

The evidence for Apple making a folding iPhone or iPad keeps mounting, and now the company has been granted a patent for a very particular issue with glass displays.

Apart from one rather sketchy claim that Apple has simply given up on an iPhone Fold, normally the rumors say it's nearly here. One report claimed that Apple was currently working on two models, and there have been countless patent applications on the topic.

Now Apple's application for a patent called "Electronic Devices With Durable Folding Displays," has been granted. It's far from a complete plan for a folding display, but it covers a crucial part of how the two halves of a folding display can come together.

"A recess may be formed in the layer of glass that extends along the bend axis," says Apple. "The recess may form a flexible locally thinned portion in the layer of glass that allows the glass layer to bend about the bend axis."

So, Apple's idea is to have a glass display taper directed toward the center. It's possible that Apple is thinking of a foldable display being two regular ones placed on either side of a hinge, but they would still benefit from being made thinner at the key point.

Interestingly, most patents tend to concentrate on one key point, even if they also try to make it sound as if their idea covers a wide range of future possible uses of the proposal. There's an element of that here, but the patent has two key themes.

The first is this business of making the glass thinner for the sections where it needs to bend or intersect. But the second is to take that same display and make its glass thicker.

"To ensure that the display cover layer exhibits satisfactory impact resistance during drop events," continues Apple, "corner portions of the display cover layer and other edge portions of the display cover layer may be provided with greater thickness relative to other portions of the display cover layer outside of the locally thinned portion."

A rectangular object with lines and labels, including numbers 28 and 30, is illustrated.

Detail from the patent showing where thinned glass would be needed in an iPhone fold

An iPhone or iPad is likely to suffer the most damage if it is dropped so that a corner hits the ground. So, this might be a case of Apple anticipating future needs and managing to address a current one.

Note that Apple applies for thousands of patents every year. Even when one is granted, it does not mean that a product will definitely be made using it.

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10 Comments

tht 5594 comments · 23 Years

About 4 months ago

I think my basic requirements for a folding display device is that the surface has to feel glass like and there isn’t any creases when unfolded.

Seen enough of these folding phones where the plastic surface feels sucky or sticky and there are always creases easily visible.

M68000 868 comments · 7 Years

Watching the baseball all star game. Samsung is running ad that shows young people (teenagers) using their Samsung folding phone. They (Samsung) are trying to make folding phones look cool. Whether they are or not is up for debate :)

radarthekat 3902 comments · 12 Years

“ It's possible that Apple is thinking of a foldable display being two regular ones placed on either side of a hinge, ”

This has been my notion all along. Here’s what I wrote back before 2019 in the early days of foldable introductions.

Appropriate hardware technology would have to be available.

First, the display would need to be covered with a non-malleable and scratch-resistant surface; there’s little chance Apple would return to a malleable and markable, plastic display cover. The challenge is that the necessary display properties are, of course, incompatible with folding and are likely to remain so.

Next, the phone when folded will need to be as ready to hand, and pocket, as current iPhones, to which any foldable iPhone, in folded configuration, will be ruthlessly compared. The rumor that Apple may bolster battery capacity in the 2019 models could result in thicker iPhones, which would help in a comparison of a future foldable model. Apple would be settting the stage for a thicker handset with a meaningful enhancement to justify it. But it would still be a significant challenge to then add a second screen layer and not significantly increase the thickness. Perhaps a flattened battery on one side of the fold and all the electronics and cameras on the other fold. Not sure if Samsung did that, or if it’s even viable.

Next there’s the reliability aspect. iPhones, and high-end Android phones, are all very solidly constructed these days, with few or no moving parts. But that doesn’t imply even today’s phones are free of physical wear and tear or immune to extreme conditions. Extreme cold or heat will be significant issues to account for in selecting materials and designing folding phones to yield a similar lifespan compared to their non-folding counterparts. For iPhones that implies a five- or six-year lifespan. Not to mention tensile stresses of the folding process itself.

The only viable solution my limited brain can conceive is two separate displays, each pressed up hard against a lip on a hinge to prevent dust or cookie crumbs intruding. As the phone unfolds, at the last part of the arc, that lip recedes, allowing the two screen edges to come together perfectly, leaving not a single pixel width gap between. How incredibly precise would such a mechanism need to be... boggles the mind. But if it worked, every time, for five or six years, it would allow two glass-covered displays to perfectly come together as one, without a visible seam.

JinTech 1054 comments · 9 Years

Everyone that I have ever known who has a purchased a foldable phone within the last three years, has had to purchase a new phone because the display cracks or stops working on them randomly.

I’m sitting at home right now with my iPhone 15 out of case. The feel of iPhone out of case is unbeatable. What a great feel to this phone. I don’t think a folding phone would feel this great in the hand.