Development on the foldable iPhone apparently continues as a recently discovered patent application suggests Apple is looking for a way to better protect its device from falls.
Available on the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (opens in new tab), the application is called Self-Retracting Display Device And Techniques For Protecting Screen Using Drop Detection. Quite a mouthful, but it does succinctly describe how Apple may aim to minimize damage to the screen. As it’s described, the device will have some kind of sensor inside like an accelerometer. If it detects the iPhone is falling, the sensor will signal an “electronically adjustable latching mechanism” to quickly snap the phone shut.
The application does hint the mechanism may not close all the way if the iPhone is too close to the ground leaving it partially open. But that’s fine as according to the patent, “even folding the display to an angle less [than] 180 degrees can [still] afford some protection”. At the very least, the impact will be on the sides instead of directly on the screen.
