Could the iPhone 8 be the first Apple smartphone with an all-glass wraparound display? Well, if a recent patent that Apple has been granted is anything to go by the future looks promising for a future iPhone just like that. According to Patently Apple, the patent application was submitted by Apple in 2011 and granted by the U.s. Patent and Trademark Office yesterday.
An iPhone 8 with an All-Glass Wraparound Display?
So what will an iPhone 8 with a wraparound display actually look like? According to sources, the device is supposed to feature a transparent housing and has a flexible display within it. The display of what I think will be the iPhone 8, would be capable of displaying content from any angle and on all sides of the device.
How it actually does this is open to conjecture, but I am going to give it a try. I suppose the iPhone 8 would have a second flexible display, which would work with the main one to present content to a user at different angles and sides of its body. Take a look at the concept image below, it appears to show a 30-pin connector on the iPhone 8, this could possibly be because Apple’s lightening connector had not yet come to market when this drawing had been created.
More on the Patent
It seems as though there is some confusion to when Apple actually applied for the Patent as the dailymail has suggested it was April 2015 and not 2011 as macrumors and Patently Apple had suggested. Called the “Electronic device with wrap around display” the dailymail describes the device in much the same way as the previous site. But goes on to provide some a more layman’s description of what it means for a possible future user.
What will the device Offer?
I am going to try and not be overly technical, so stay with me. In order to produce an iPhone 8 with such an innovation as a wraparound all-glass screen, Apple has some difficult work ahead of it. The tech giant would have to develop a flexible display that would be able to be wound tightly and be placed into a transparent casing.
This “enclosure” would need to be made from glass or plastic and be flexible and the bendable display would be inserted to make images on the glass. So with two flexible displays inserted, you may be able to start to see why an iPhone 8 like this would have an almost 360-degree viewing angle.
Personally, I find this exciting because this would mean that the device would give the illusion of depth almost perfecting a 3D experience and this fact is mentioned in the patent itself.
What Else?
If Apple is actively working on an iPhone 8 with features described above, that would be truly amazing. In fact, I think it would place Apple back at the top of the pile and easily bring in none Apple users from the likes of Samsung and LG. However, one question I have in my mind is, what about the buttons, what will Apple do with them, where will it put them?
Well, in the patent the use of buttons / switches is mentioned, and as you know they are currently found on the side of Apple’s handsets. However, with a possible wraparound iPhone, the buttons would become virtual rather than physical, and could be expanded in size and placed anywhere that a user desires!
As it stands Apple has not responded to my request for a comment on this patent, but neither did I expect it to.
What do you think, is this a hoax? Or is Apple on to something with this patent?
