Time files very quickly. It has not been so long since we witnessed the launch of the Apple iPhone 15 series. And we are now just 6-months away from the launch of the iPhone 16 series. The leaks and rumors have already started popping up on the internet. Amidst all these, Apple has filed a new patent which hints that future iPhones may come with touch panels on the edges, which is quite interesting.
Apple’s new patent shows a smartphone with a touch panel on the edges
Cupertino tech giant Apple was granted a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with the title “Electronic devices with sidewall displays“. The title itself is enough to tell about what’s there inside the patent.
Smartphones with “flexible displays” that are twisted to “form front side displays and edge displays” are described in the patent. Masks are used to visually separate the two displays, and relevant pixels on the screen are enabled and disabled accordingly.
There’s also a diagram attached to it which shows the possible visual representation of it. If we look carefully at the image, it shows an iPhone with a slim display located on the edge of it. The display is located just below two physical buttons. Multiple use cases of it such as accessing shortcut app icons or controlling music are also shown in the figure.
Figure 16 shows virtual buttons that are likely to show up while the camera app is active. These buttons control the flash, allow you to switch between photo and video models, and function as a shutter. Figures 18, 19, and 20 show that it can display the artist’s name, and title of the next and previous music along with the playing now on the display. There may be support for vertical scrolling or some simple music controls straight from it.
On the other hand, Figure 15 displays the app icons for the Calendar, Camera, and Messaging apps, indicating that they might be provided as quick launch choices. This could be a great addition if implemented in the future iPhones. We cannot, however, expect this to be implemented in real life as it is merely a patent. Many patents have also been filed in the past, but they have all since faded into obscurity.
This would be amazing to see in the actual world. You may remember that Xiaomi earlier unveiled their experimental smartphone, which had screens on the corners and back. Although they are not directly comparable, each gadget is distinct in its own right.
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