Apple patent filing hints at an iPhone with a sliding expandable display

A foldable iPhone? Meh. How about one with a slicing expanding display? Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200329572) for such a device.

In the patent filing, Apple says displays on portable devices such as iPhones may not have enough screen real estate to display the info a user needs. 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 too bulky. One option, per Apple: a device with a display with a section of screen that can slide out  to show more data.

Here’s a summary of the patent filing: “An electronic device may have a housing with portions that slide relative to each other. A display may be supported on a surface of the housing such as on a front face of the housing. The housing portions may slide between an unexpanded state in which the display has an unexpanded viewable area on the front face and an expanded state in which the display has an expanded viewable area on the front face that is greater than the unexpanded viewable area. 

“The housing portions may have interior regions that contain electrical components. The display may be formed from a flexible display substrate. A portion of a flexible display may be stored in an interior region of the housing when the housing is in the unexpanded state. In the unexpanded state, the flexible display may have one or more bends and may double back on itself one or more times.”