Apple has filed for a patent for a “Roller Hinge With Friction Elements.” It may involve the hinge mechanism in the upcoming foldable iPhone that’s rumored to be dubbed either the “iPhone Fold” or the “iPhone Ultra.”
About the patent filing and the foldable smartphone
The foldable smartphone has encountered setbacks in its recent trial production phase, the Weibo leaker known as “Instant Digital” claims in an X post. He/she says that, regarding screen creases, Apple has essentially acknowledged the issue, and current test results have indeed demonstrated the ability to maintain a visually crease-free state over the long term. Now the concern is the hinge.
“Instant Digital” says reliability after long-term high-frequency opening and closing has never reached Apple’s quality control pass line. If this mechanical‑loss issue isn’t resolved soon, the launch of the first foldable iPhone will be delayed.
The iPhone Fold/Ultra is still expected to arrive this year — sometime after the roll-out of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max in September or October. However, if there are design issues, it could be pushed to early 2027, when the standard iPhone 18 and an iPhone 18e are expected to debut.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “An electronic device may include a flexible display mounted to a foldable housing. The foldable housing may include first and second housing portions coupled by a hinge that is aligned with the bend axis. The hinge may include rollers and interdigitated friction leaves that rotate about multiple axes of rotation. The hinge may include shafts that are received by the leaves and that are each aligned with a respective one of the axes of rotation.
“Some of the leaves may include gears for imposing synchronous motion of the first and second housing portions, while other leaves may include hard stop structures for imposing an open position hard stop and a closed position hard stop. In some arrangements, the leaves may include a vertical slot that receives a mutual pin and provides both synchronous motion functionality and hard stop functionality.”
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