Mobile Phones: Forget foldable phones – an all-glass iPhone might be the longer term

A future iPhone might be touch-sensitive on all sides

The Cupertino behemoth is looking into alternative ways to innovate the iPhone. Not that Apple isn’t exploring the trending foldable phone route, as evidenced by the “Foldable Cover and Display for an Electronic Device” patent it filed way back in 2017. But, clearly, it’s watching other avenues also.

AppleInsider reports that a replacement Apple patent shows an all-glass iPhone which will boast display and touch sensitivity on all its surfaces – front, back and every one four sides. US Patent 20200057525, called “Electronic Device with Glass Enclosure” shows what this device could appear as if and the way it'll potentially work.

With Apple recently struggling to innovate the phone that started it all, could this new design finally be what the iPhone must crush its rivals? This design might sound incredible, but we’re almost sure if it’ll add the important world, and at a price point that will prove competitive within the mainstream market.

Six-sided touch-sensitive display 

According to the patent, this device will move far away from the traditional front touchscreen smartphone design. Instead, it'll come “with enclosures that use glass to define multiple sides of the enclosure. In such cases, the enclosure may appear visually and tactically seamless, such the whole enclosure may appear to be formed from one piece of glass (even though it's going to be formed from multiple separate pieces attached together)."

This means that rather than the standard phone design we’re wont to, this device will have an all-glass interface that seamlessly wraps around it, ditching apparent edges and leading to a more rounded shape.

This all-glass device also will boast multiple sides that “may facilitate or enable numerous additional functions and uses that aren't realized with conventional enclosures."

"For example, glass backs and glass sides could also be transparent, allowing the device to incorporate additional displays that are viewable through the edges and/or the rear.

Moreover, the side- and back-viewable displays could also be made touch and/or force-sensitive using touch- and/or force-sensing systems, effectively turning the side and back surfaces into additional input devices or surfaces with which a user may interact to regulate the device ."

In other words, while Apple still intends to utilize the front of the device because the main display, as is traditional, it'll also use the opposite five sides of the device as additional output and input surfaces.

Use cases of such a design might be anywhere from displaying graphical outputs like images and applications to spill over the edges or maybe wrap around the back, to having touch controls for such things like volume and mute also as single touch toggles for WiFi and airplane mode.

Though how all that's extremely necessary and life-changing, we still can’t imagine. We’re still stuck on how you'll possibly hold such a tool together with your hand without accidentally pressing on things since all of it's basically touchscreen. But hey, if anybody can make this into reality, it might be Apple.




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