Apple Granted Patent for iPhone With Wrap Around Display [Images]

Apple has been granted a patent for an 'Electronic Device With Wrap Around Display'. The patent was filed on September 26, 2011, published March 28, 2013, and granted today.

The company describes how its wrap around display might work:

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The majority of portable electronic device manufacturers utilize a common form factor consisting generally of a flat planar form factor with a single surface dedicated mainly for use as a display surface, while the other surfaces remain largely unused, save for the occasional button or switch. The conventional form factor has been used in devices such as smart phones, tablet devices, and electronic book readers. Although this form factor lends itself to electronic devices that are aesthetically pleasing and easy to handle, the requirement for a planar display and associated circuitry inherently limits the amount of surface area to single surface. More specifically, the size of the user interface is generally limited to a portion of the device that takes up less than half of the overall device surface area.


In one embodiment, utilizing a flexible display can provide additional viewing area without increasing either the size or shape of the electronic device. For example, a flexible display can be folded in such a way as to form a continuous loop such that images (still or video) can be presented in a wrap-around manner in which the images appear to be presented in a continuous loop. The flexible display can be folded into a tightly wound configuration and placed within an enclosure at least a portion of which is transparent. In some cases, the enclosure can be formed of glass at least a portion of which is made opaque (at least translucent) by the addition of ink or other masking material. In other cases, however, the entire enclosure can be fully transparent in which case the folded flexible display can unwind when placed within the glass enclosure. Once fully unwound, the flexible display can present images at any portion of the glass enclosure.
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A patent doesn't mean that this design will make it into production; however, Apple is rumored to making a massive change to the iPhone for 2017.

It's said that the iPhone planned for release in 2017 will be all glass and feature an edge-to-edge display that has no bezels on the top and bottom. Additionally, the front camera, Touch ID, speaker, and other sensors will apparently be embedded into the display. Other reports claim it will sport an OLED touch screen that slopes to the sides similar to the S7.

For further updates on Apple's iPhone plans, please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.


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