The Sellers Research Group (that’s me) still doesn’t think that Apple will make a foldable iPhone (or foldable iPad or foldable Mac laptop). But the patent filings continue.
About the new patent
The latest granted patent (number 11,304,316) is for “flexible display devices.” In it, Apple notes that electronic devices such as cellular telephones, media players, and computers are often provided with displays. For example, electronic devices may be provided with liquid crystal displays. Liquid crystal displays are often mounted under a rigid layer of cover glass.
The cover glass protects the liquid crystal display from damage, but the rigid nature of the cover glass and other display layers render the display inflexible.
However, flexible display technologies are available that allow displays to be bent. For example, flexible displays may be formed using flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology. Apple says that “it would be desirable to be able to use flexible display technology to provide improved electronic devices.”
In a May note to clients — as noted by MacRumors — analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple will launch an eight-inch foldable iPhone in 2023. I’m skeptical, but here’s what he said:
Based on our latest industry survey, we forecast that Apple will likely launch a foldable iPhone with an 8-inch QHD+ flexible OLED display in 2023, with SDC as the exclusive display supplier and Samsung Foundry as the exclusive DDI foundry provider. Based on Apple’s requested capacity plan, we predict that the foldable iPhone shipments will reach 15-20 million units in 2023. We expect that the foldable iPhone will adopt TPK’s silver nanowire touch solution because of its several advantages over SDC’s Y-Octa technology.
At present, the product position of foldable smartphones is mainly to integrate the smartphone and tablet. But we believe that the foldable smartphone is only one of the applications of the foldable design. We predict that foldable devices will blur the product segmentations between smartphones, tablets, and laptops in the future. With its cross-product ecosystems and hardware design advantages, Apple will be the biggest winner in the new foldable device trend.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing with technical details: “Electronic devices may be provided that contain multiple housing portions. The housing portions may be coupled together using hinges. The hinges may include hinges based on a three-bar linkage, hinges based on a four-bar linkage, hinges with slotted members, hinges formed from flexible support structures, and hinges based on flexible housing structures. Flexible displays may be mounted to the housing portions overlapping the hinges.
“When the housing portions in a device are rotated relative to each other, the flexible display may bend. The hinge may be configured to allow the flexible display to be placed in a front-to-front configuration in which an active side of the display faces itself or a back-to-back configuration. Engagement structures may be used to help the housing grip external objects and to hold the housing portions together. The hinges may be provided with rotational detents to help hold the flexible display in desired positions.
This foldable iPhone concept image accompanying this article is courtesy of Tech Advisor.
