If Apple’s latest patent ever results in a commercially available iPhone, it will have so much screen area that you might run out of ideas for how to use it. The company recently submitted a patent for a ‘wraparound’ screen that curves from the front around the side to the back of the device.
The main benefit of such a screen would, of course, be that the total phone surface can be used. The back might, for example, be used as a notepad, while the front functions like the traditional screens we know.
The Cupertino-based technology giant has apparently filed patents for similar wraparound screens in the past, but the latest filing adds some more information. For example, it uses the term ‘continuous loop’ to describe the glass screen around the phone.
This is believed to refer to a display that works on both the front and back of an iPhone. Right now, it remains anyone’s guess whether the patent will ever result in a commercial product, because technology companies often register patents for concepts that might or might not hit the stores.
Even if Apple never brings out an iPhone with a wraparound screen, other phone manufacturers are also working on similar screens of their own.
In October 2019, for example, Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi announced a phone that is virtually completely covered by the screen.
The device will go on sale before the end of this year with a hefty price tag of about £2,250. Judging from the patents it filed, Samsung is also busy developing a wraparound screen.
In other Apple news, devotees recently picked up that the ‘send text’ button on the iPhone is decidedly wonky. And Apple has designed a ‘smart ring’ that enables owners to control their iPhones without the need to touch them.