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Iphone Patents Cellphones Apple Hardware Technology

Future iPhones Could Fold In Half (geek.com) 95

Posted by BeauHD from the clamshell-design dept.
Apple has just received a patent, titled "electronic devices with carbon nanotube printing circuits," that suggests future iPhones may be foldable -- at least to some degree. Geek reports: Based on the language in the patent, it doesn't sound like Apple is specifically talking about a device that has a fully bendable display. It mentions one that can bend "along edges of touch sensors or displays." The carbon nanotube PCBs provide flexibility for some of the phone's internals, but not all of them. Those other parts will likely be covered by other patents if Apple is genuinely working on a seamless foldable device. The usual caveats apply here. For now, this is simply yet another patent padding Apple's already massive portfolio. Could they be planning to release an iPhone that folds in half? Definitely.
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Future iPhones Could Fold In Half More

Future iPhones Could Fold In Half

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  • Uh, we already HAD flip phones.

    • I don't think this has anything to do with flip phones or even bendable devices. I'd bet that this is all about creating components that can be more easily bent and squeezed into tiny spaces, such as you find in many of today's consumer electronics devices. Think about the advantages of being able to roll your circuit board up and stuffing it into a pen-type device.

    • iFlip ?

  • no inputs or screen (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    but it won't have any inputs and the screen won't be visible without a $25 dongle you add to your $600 iGlasses that have to be connected to your iWatch (something has to tell this thing the time) because they think that is the next great thing

  • The iFlipPhone. With a display on one part, and an innovative 12 button keyboard on the other that allows you to use a combination of strokes per key (1, 2, or 3 presses in succession) to enter text one character at a time!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JustNiz ( 692889 )

      You joke but I'm seriously thinking about going back to my old w995.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        This week I recharged, popped in a 3G SIM that had been in an original HTC Desire (bravo) and switched on my old Nokia 8310.
        Registered to the network (with a hilariously old operator logo of One 2 One) and worked just fine. Lasted 3 days before the battery gave in, and I can't remember how good the battery used to be on that.

        • I used to get well over a week out of a charge on some of my old Motorola flip phones. Yes, there aren't too many cases where I can't charge my phone on a daily basis, but it was nice to not have to care about always plugging in your phone without having to worry about your battery life the next day.

    • It will also have rounded corners like nobody's business....

      • And they'll make it thin. I mean, THIN thin. Really thin. Like super thin. Unbelieveably thin. Like thin as a razor. So thin you can't even use all the letters to describe it.

        The Apple iPhone Razr.

        Apple: the Courage to Think diiferent.

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by c ( 8461 )

          And they'll make it thin.

          That's why Apple will never produce a foldable phone... those filthy, uncouth users might choose to fold it in half, instantly doubling its thickness.

          • And they'll make it thin.

            That's why Apple will never produce a foldable phone... those filthy, uncouth users might choose to fold it in half, instantly doubling its thickness.

            They already make a foldable phone. Of course, you can only fold it once...

        • And they'll include a shaving app to that phone that can shave the beards of most people these days so that they don't look like ISIS or al Qaeda fighters

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kuzb ( 724081 )
          Apple: the courage to shave.

    • Wait till they discover slider phones. Its amazingly fantastic slide out keyboard.

      • Slide out keyboards require extra thickness so they won't go for that. Besides the virtual keyboard already slides up from the bottom of the screen.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Maritz ( 1829006 )

        Wait till they invent and patent slider phones. Its amazingly fantastic slide out keyboard.

        FTFY

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Patent Logic 101:

          X via human hand: not patentable

          X via robot hand: patentable

          X via Internet: patentable

          X via phone screen: patentable

          X in the cloud: patentable

  • They invented the flip-phone? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    What will they think of next?

  • Get rid of those last few pesky ports, and we'll be able to fold Apple's laptops into quarters.

  • Wow, such brave! (Score:5, Funny)

    by yuriklastalov ( 4536597 ) on Thursday November 03, 2016 @05:15PM (#53209121)

    Now you can roll your phone up and shove it up your ass!

  • That's really cool! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I really like that idea! But, I liked it even better when it was called the Microsoft Courier. [wikipedia.org]

  • So what? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Orgasmatron ( 8103 ) on Thursday November 03, 2016 @05:54PM (#53209331)

    Current iPhones can already fold in half, if you push hard enough. Wake me up when we can unfold them back into a functional state.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      That's the actual use-case for this tech. The iPhone 6/6S suffers from touch disease, a condition where flexing causes the touch screen controller IC to fail. By making the PCB more flexible, it is less likely to fail due to being kept in someone's pocket.

  • That would be pretty goddamn cool (Score:3)

    by Sloppy ( 14984 ) on Thursday November 03, 2016 @05:57PM (#53209341) Homepage Journal

    This wouldn't be enough to make me buy an iOS device, but I have to admit it would make me a little jealous. I miss the compactness of my old flip phone. It seems phones have been getting smaller in stupid ways (e.g. by having ever-more-anemic batteries, as if I give a fuck about its thickness) instead of getting smaller in actually-convenient ways. Most phones, you can easily get 4-8 times as thick and have it be just as good (and probably gain something useful, like battery space) so folding for 2x thickness while reducing its biggest dimension, is a good move.

  • And it won't work with any Mac without adapter.

  • Rollable phone (Score:3)

    by CanadianMacFan ( 1900244 ) on Thursday November 03, 2016 @06:29PM (#53209507)

    There was a series from New Zealand called This is Not My Life and they had an interesting idea of a phone (though it probably showed up elsewhere too). Take a canister that you could wrap your hand around and make it slightly longer. From there the screen is pulled out. It's about the size of a man's hand. When you done with it then you just push it back into the canister part. It's been a while since I've watch the series so I forget all of the detail of what it could do. Basically an advanced smart phone that also lets you control your home environment.

    It's also a pretty good show. They were supposed to make a second season but some company from the US bought the rights to the show and an American version was supposed to be made.

  • Aren't printed circuits using carbon nanotubes kind of the entire point of carbon nanotubes? How can hey be awarded a patent on it?

  • Resistant to bending.. (Score:3)

    by willy_me ( 212994 ) on Thursday November 03, 2016 @08:35PM (#53210099)
    Looks like people are making this out to be more then it really is. I assume the main purpose is to allow for devices that can tolerate repeated bending - such as leaving it in you back pocket when sitting down. The described patent would eliminate the "touch disease" that was reported with the iPhone 6.

  • Can I just flip it back open? WOW!

  • Just give me a gimmick free phone. I want blazing fast hardware, as much battery life as possible, a good looking screen, and I don't want it to break if I look at it the wrong way.

  • I am patenting that...
  • Just askin' as they're getting thinner and thinner.

  • I've always wanted an iFlip

  • I'd rather have a headphone jack than a phone that folds in half.

  • Current iPhones will fold in half. They just stop working after that.

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