We’ve seen foldable phones released by Samsung, Motorola and Huawei and other manufacturers are working to join them. And of course, that brings up the question of whether Apple will develop a foldable iPhone. Sure, we can take guesses but the best way to see what Apple is working on is to take a look at the patent applications that the company is filing and the patents it receives. Having said that, Apple files for and receives hundreds of patents a year and not all of them are put into use.

Apple receives another patent related to a foldable iPhone

The foldable portion of the cover layer could be strengthened by chemicals and would be made of glass, sapphire or some ceramic material. As stated in the patent, the cover sheets would be used to “facilitate localized bending or flexing without producing unacceptable levels of internal stress.” The cover sheet essentially protects the display and also provides it with structural support. The display itself could be an LCD, OLED, AMOLED or E Ink panel. Using accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, or other sensing devices, the orientation of the display could determine the UI that appears on the screen. Microsoft’s Surface Duo is rumored to have such a feature. Depending on how the two displays are oriented, the UI on the Duo will change.

For example, with the two screens propped up in an inverted “V,” the hinge on the Surface Duo would understand the orientation and display a UI that would feature an alarm clock. In that “tent mode,” the device would be placed on a nightstand. In “laptop mode,” the device is held in landscape and the screens opened at a 90-degree angle. This would automatically show a UI that features a virtual QWERTY on the bottom screen to replicate the look of a laptop computer.