Apple has filed for a patent for an “Electronic Device With Strengthened Foldable Cover.” It almost certainly involves the upcoming foldable iPhone (the rumored “iPhone Fold”).
About the patent filing
The patent filing relates generally to electronic devices with a foldable or flexible cover. More particularly, it involves foldable covers that are strengthened to provide damage resistance to the cover and that are coupled to a flexible display assembly.
In the patent filing, Apple notes that some traditional electronic devices include a cover to protect an underlying display. When the display is positioned within an enclosure that has a single form factor, the cover may include a glass member having a thickness sufficient to provide rigidity to the cover member. The newly filing patent involves techniques to overcome this.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “A strengthened foldable cover may include a cover member formed from a glass material. A hinge of the cover member defines a bend in the folded configuration of the foldable cover. One or more portions of the cover member that define the hinge may be strengthened differently than other portions of the cover member in order to facilitate bending of the cover member while providing damage resistance and minimizing distortion of graphical output from the display assembly.”
About the ‘iPhone Fold’
Apple will offer the “iPhone Fold” in three different storage capacities, according to the leaker known as “Instant Digital” — as noted by MacRumors.
The foldable smartphone will purportedly be offered in 236GB, 512GB, and 1TB options for US$2,320, $2,610, and $2,900, respectively. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has offeredsome new details on what we can expect from Apple’s first foldable smartphone: the “iPhone Fold” (or perhaps it will be dubbed the “iPhone Ultra”).
From his latest report: The product — Apple’s long-awaited entry into the category — will feature an interior foldable display roughly the size of an iPad mini, according to people with knowledge of the matter. There also will be an external screen that’s about the size of the display on a small iPhone.
…. Apple is developing new iOS app layouts and revamping its core iPhone programs to add sidebars along the left edge of the screen, similar to many of its iPad apps. Developers will also be able to adapt their iPhone software for the new interface, which will use proportions similar to an iPad in landscape mode.
Gurman says the iPhone Fold won’t run similarly sized iPad mini or offer a windowing system a la iPadOS 26.
When it comes to the foldable iPhone, Apple manufacturing partners have received orders from tech giant for the upcoming “iPhone Fold,” according to the Weibo account “Fixed Focus Digital” — as noted by MacRumors. According to the rumor, the foldable iPhone will have:
° A 7.8-inch inner display;
° A crease depth controlled to under 0.15 mm. Crease depth refers to how deep the groove or indentation at the fold is. A smaller number means the crease is shallower and less noticeable to the eye and to the touch.
° The crease angle is said to be under 2.5 degrees. Crease angle describes how sharp the fold line appears when the display is unfolded, which is measured as the angle formed at the crease area. A smaller angle indicates a smoother, flatter transition across the fold, rather than a sharp ridge or valley.
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