Next iPhones Might Have 3D Effects, Flexible Batteries, and More, as Hinted in New Apple Patents
The next new iPhone models may turn out to be very different from the usual release, based on the recent set of patents that Apple has just been awarded. Apple has filed patents on a wide range of new smartphone features ranging from flexible batteries to new 3D-like effects which could become standard iPhone specs a generation or two from now.
One of these patents, which was just published by the US Patent and Trademark Office this Thursday, March 29, is one that described flexible battery cells that are arranged to "form a flexible structure capable of bending and flexing."
These flexible battery cell arrays could lead to iPhones with internal batteries bent and shaped to pack more cells in the same volume. It could also lead to a flexible mobile device, which is one idea Apple has in common with Samsung and LG when it comes to future flagship phones, as Forbes' Jay McGregor pointed out.
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The new iPhones might turn out to be the ones that have parts that will work even when rolled up, with one configuration showing how a flexible battery would bend and even stretch behind a flexible display. Apple's patent, as spotted by Patently Apple, describes a device that has a section that can be rolled up into a flattened, cylindrical shape, while the rest of the device remains rigid.
In their depiction of how they might implement this in future iPhones, Apple describes a rollable device that could retract or be laid out flat as needed, with a "flexible display is configured to retract by a retraction mechanism that results in the flexible display being wound around a cylindrical member within a housing."
"In this way, the flexible display and flexible battery can make the electronic device substantially more portable and easy to carry when not in active use," the patent description continued.
Another idea that Apple has patented is looking at the current limitations of mapping data, and how to go about addressing them. Current mapping apps like Google Maps and Apple's own Maps app mostly deal with streets, addresses and driving directions, so users who might be looking for a way to navigate inside a large building will still need to ask a concierge for the way to a particular office or shop, for example.
The new patent, which describes a method for identifying one or more entrances to an establishment, was just published this March 29, as well. This new technology could depend on the same ones being used in mapping apps of today, including GPS, Wi-Fi data, accelerometer information in the iPhone itself, or other methods, as Digital Trends pointed out.
Parallax wallpapers already hint at another new Apple patent for 3D effects on a display device. Just like some existing wallpapers, an iPhone screen could create the illusion of 3D when the user tilts or moves the phone around. The difference this time is that the device could keep track of a viewer's head position as well, and adjust the image accordingly.
