Apple’s foldable iPhone to come with self-healing screen
- by Nick Cohen
- in Industry
- — Oct 7, 2020
It will also get the same dual-camera as the iPhone 11.
The question about this is how it will work.
The new patent application, titled "Electronic Devices With Flexible Display Cover Layers", was recently published by the U.S.
"An electronic device may have a hinge that allows the device to be flexed about a bend axis".
"To help mitigate the number of dents, scratches, or other imperfections in a display cover layer, the display cover layer may include a layer of self-healing material".
Apple is developing a solution for all those iPhone users facing cracked screen problems. Speculations suggest that it's a mix of rigid and flexible areas for a display that utilises "self healing".
Apple's patent covers several uses for the self-healing material at once, and it says that this technology can be used in different types of devices, including laptops, smartphones, and smartwatches. "The layer of self-healing material may cover the layer of elastomer in the flexible region". It can heal and clean itself, including running an automatic, hours-long screen diagnostic overnight while you sleep to help fix dead pixels. The heating layer may be used to generate heat to stimulate self-healing. The document does not mean that the company is going to launch a gadget, such as a mobile phone or a computer, with a self-healing layer.
In theory, the folding screen self-healing can be activated automatically, and the foldable screen self-healing can be activated according to a predetermined schedule.
It sounds impossible at first, but it is what Apple wants to do for its future foldable iPhone.
The patent application suggests that the tech could be used in including laptops, tablets, wristwatch devices, gaming devices, and navigation devices that they are now making.
The most notable observation to come from the data, however, may be a prediction suggesting that Apple's ProMotion technology - an iPad Pro feature that increases the screen's refresh rate to make scrolling seem faster and smoother - could be the biggest development on iPhone 13 Pro. While there's no news on when the smartphone will be available for purchase, we do know that it will most likely have a form-factor similar to the Galaxy Fold 2 or Mate X.
