Apple continues to sow patents that show its interest in devices with foldable screens. A document released earlier this week at the US Patent Office showed diagrams of a phone or a small foldable tablet with several areas of the chassis that are touch sensitive. This would be a way, for example, to avoid having your finger mask the graphic element with which you are interacting. Functions for adjusting sound, brightness or taking photos could be deported to these places, offers the description.
These controls go in the direction of a recurring rumor about the programmed disappearance of the last mechanical buttons on the next generation of iPhone, as did the iPhone 7 with its fixed Home button accompanied by the Taptic Engine.
iPhone 15 Pro: another rumor suggests the abandonment of mechanical buttons
Another example of research on foldable solutions is this other patent which this time focuses on the mechanism of a hinge. It is reminiscent of those seen on foldable smartphones from Samsung or Oppo and in nothing of what already exists on that of MacBooks.
The prospect of a foldable screen device from Apple has arisen recently with various rumors, the latest of which pointed to a “notebook” for 2025.
Oppo unfolds its new foldable in France
