Apple's Foldable Phone Could Copy Old Samsung Design
Concept art of the Galaxy X by YouTube channel TechConfigurations.
Apple is joining Samsung and LG to be the first to launch the next generation of foldable smartphones, and with a recently published patent, we have an idea of what it might look like.
Spotted by Patently Mobile, the application suggests that Apple could be working on a device with a display that rolls up like a piece of paper.
The image depicts two cylinders that likely hold all of the rigid components. In between them is a malleable display that appears to roll out like an ancient scroll.
Apple's latest patent for a foldable phone.
Interestingly, the patent details a new type of flexible battery that would sit behind the display and either extend or roll-up with it - using graphite as a potential way to dissipate heat - as Patently Mobile explains.
“In some embodiments, the flexible display could include thin layers of graphite designed to dissipate and spread heat generated by operation of a display of flexible display assembly and usage of the integrated flexible battery.
The flexible battery could also be distributed across the flexible display and allow it to transition from a rolled-up state”.
If possible, this would obviously solve some space issues with this patent’s design. Where to place the battery has been a puzzle that’s evaded device manufacturers in recent years. Samsung had a breakthrough in 2014 with its own flexible lithium ion batteries that it touted as a possible solution to increasingly malleable and shrunken wearable devices, which very well could be the solution it uses for the upcoming Galaxy X.
Like Samsung, we’re going to see a deluge of patents from Apple - detailing unusual designs - in the coming months and years as the iPhone maker works through its plans.
Samsung, too, has toyed with a scroll-like design in the past. In this 2013 CES advert, the second foldable phone (about 1.32 in) looks very similar to Apple’s above patent. Clearly, the the two tech titans are thinking along the same lines.
Form factor is one issue, but there are other hurdles to clear when it comes to designing this technology. Where to place rigid components, the power retention capabilities of flexible batteries, heat management and, most importantly, the actual display itself are all serious conundrums.
With regards to the latter, we learned last week that the big players working on flexible tech aren’t anywhere near cracking the science behind making a stable foldable display.
Qualcomm’s product manager of display technology Salman Saeed, speaking with TechRadar, explained that there are technological hurdles that are yet to be cleared when it comes to flexible displays.
“Specifically, Saeed points to the transistors in the display architecture as being the weakest link, pointing out that the components responsible for powering individual pixels “are not flexible enough today” to withstand frequent bending.”
Despite repeated hints that the Galaxy X is around the corner, it now looks like it's still a few years away. And if a report last week that suggested a potential 2020 launch for Apple’s foldable phone is accurate, then it could be very bad news for Samsung.
More on Forbes
Apple's Folding iPhone Is Bad News For Samsung
Samsung's New Galaxy X Has Been Hiding In Plain Sight
Shameless iPhone X Android Clones Prove Apple Was Right
The Samsung Galaxy X Might Not Arrive In 2018
">Concept art of the Galaxy X by YouTube channel TechConfigurations.
Apple is joining Samsung and LG to be the first to launch the next generation of foldable smartphones, and with a recently published patent, we have an idea of what it might look like.
Spotted by Patently Mobile, the application suggests that Apple could be working on a device with a display that rolls up like a piece of paper.
The image depicts two cylinders that likely hold all of the rigid components. In between them is a malleable display that appears to roll out like an ancient scroll.
Apple's latest patent for a foldable phone.
Interestingly, the patent details a new type of flexible battery that would sit behind the display and either extend or roll-up with it - using graphite as a potential way to dissipate heat - as Patently Mobile explains.
“In some embodiments, the flexible display could include thin layers of graphite designed to dissipate and spread heat generated by operation of a display of flexible display assembly and usage of the integrated flexible battery.
The flexible battery could also be distributed across the flexible display and allow it to transition from a rolled-up state”.
If possible, this would obviously solve some space issues with this patent’s design. Where to place the battery has been a puzzle that’s evaded device manufacturers in recent years. Samsung had a breakthrough in 2014 with its own flexible lithium ion batteries that it touted as a possible solution to increasingly malleable and shrunken wearable devices, which very well could be the solution it uses for the upcoming Galaxy X.
Like Samsung, we’re going to see a deluge of patents from Apple - detailing unusual designs - in the coming months and years as the iPhone maker works through its plans.
Samsung, too, has toyed with a scroll-like design in the past. In this 2013 CES advert, the second foldable phone (about 1.32 in) looks very similar to Apple’s above patent. Clearly, the the two tech titans are thinking along the same lines.
Form factor is one issue, but there are other hurdles to clear when it comes to designing this technology. Where to place rigid components, the power retention capabilities of flexible batteries, heat management and, most importantly, the actual display itself are all serious conundrums.
With regards to the latter, we learned last week that the big players working on flexible tech aren’t anywhere near cracking the science behind making a stable foldable display.
Qualcomm’s product manager of display technology Salman Saeed, speaking with TechRadar, explained that there are technological hurdles that are yet to be cleared when it comes to flexible displays.
“Specifically, Saeed points to the transistors in the display architecture as being the weakest link, pointing out that the components responsible for powering individual pixels “are not flexible enough today” to withstand frequent bending.”
Despite repeated hints that the Galaxy X is around the corner, it now looks like it's still a few years away. And if a report last week that suggested a potential 2020 launch for Apple’s foldable phone is accurate, then it could be very bad news for Samsung.
More on Forbes
Apple's Folding iPhone Is Bad News For Samsung
Samsung's New Galaxy X Has Been Hiding In Plain Sight
Shameless iPhone X Android Clones Prove Apple Was Right
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