Last week details of a patent filed by Apple which describes a wraparound style AMOLED display were leaked. The patent details a continuous, seamless iPhone which is almost entirely screen (resembling the 4th gen iPod Nano in shape, but cooler and much more futuristic). Literally every surface is detailed as a touch-sensitive glass display. A-ma-zing.
The patent is pretty damn comprehensive and covers a lot of bases; it mentions virtual buttons replacing physical ones, built-in facial recognition to help work out where to display content, and a feature which would work out which touches to treat as important and which not – kind of essential, come to think of it, for a phone which is made entirely of screen.The glass is described as either ‘seamless’ or featuring elements which hide joints, while a version which is comprised of layered, transparent displays that can each show different content, or provide a layering effect to achieve 3D imagery - or augmented reality - is also detailed.
Apple has played around with different designs that could be used featuring the external, wraparound glass display. But the patent also mentions removable cap ends that could allow devices to be joined up.
Now THIS is more like it, Apple. Commentators and critics have been getting ruffled over Apple’s faltering innovation; the iPhone has barely changed since it was first released and information out this week which reveals that the iPhone 5 and 5S were actually designed before Steve Jobs' death in October 2011 goes some way to explaining this. While this patent probably won’t apply to the iPhone 6 or even 7, it does give us an exciting glimpse into the future.
