Apple patent filing for ‘hinges for folding devices’ hints at an ‘iPhone Fold’

Apple has filed for another patent (number US 20240147644 A1) that hints at a foldable iPhone (of which I’m skeptical we’ll ever see). This one is dubbed “hinges for folding devices.”

About the patent filing

Apple says that, if care isn’t taken, a smartphone display may not offer sufficient screen real estate to display information of interest to a user. At the same time, it can be difficult to enlarge the size of electronic devices too much to accommodate larger displays, because this can make devices bulky. The idea, per the latest patent filing: a foldable iPhone with folds via geared hinges.

Summary of the patent filing

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “A foldable display device may have housing portions coupled by a hinge. A flexible display may overlap the hinge. The hinge may have portions that rotate relative to each other about rotational axes that lie above the hinge to help reduce stress to the display. The hinge may have gear plates with interlocked teeth that synchronize rotational movement between left and right halves of the hinge. The hinge may also have asymmetric friction clips that impose different amounts of rotational friction to the hinge depending on the direction of rotation of the hinge.”