There are many challenges to launching a foldable iPhone onto the market. The structure itself can be adapted by means of hinges, but elements such as the screen including its protective glass and the touch layer have to be able to bend. Another element that apparently can also bend is the battery, at least according to a patent that Apple has registered.
If we are to bend, let us also bend the battery
The battery of any device, especially an iPhone, is tremendously important. So much so that Apple always tries to enlarge its size, even if it is little. In this sense, having to leave a whole empty space without battery in the center of the phone where it bends does not seem the most elegant solution.
Two batteries with a simply empty physical separation will never have the same capacity as a battery that also occupies that empty space. But it is that this battery has to be able to bend. The patent “Flexible battery configurations” speaks precisely of that, of a battery that could adapt to the folding and unfolding position of a future iPhone.
“Such technology can provide numerous benefits over conventional technology. For example, the present systems can provide additional battery capacity that can be used with connected electronic devices.”
“In addition, the configurations of electronic devices according to embodiments of the present technology can provide mechanical flexibility to the devices.”
Interesting here is Apple’s approach that we see in a paragraph just above these lines. Apple isn’t trying to fit a battery or two into a foldable iPhone, it’s trying to figure out how an iPhone can be folded by leaning on one of its most important components, Battery. It is a very interesting approach that, if one day we see a foldable iPhone, it may cause an important difference between Apple’s proposal and that of the competition.
A solution designed from the core of the challenge, from the base.
The patent does not explore the chemistry or composition of the battery, something that seems to be in the background. The company’s main interest is in the mechanics of implementing a battery with the ability to bend inside an electronic device. From this we can deduce that the patent will not be a complete solution, but part of a larger system.
With the scramble for future Apple Watch straps in mind, it is interesting to read how Apple investigates the possibility of doubling batteries for all devices. A reading that quickly makes us wonder if one day we’ll see a battery inside a watch strap. It is true that the space is really small, but we have seen more strange patents.
What is clear, beyond the details of this particular patent, is that Apple is investigating the possibility of creating flexible devices. A technology that after all the research can be discarded, of course, but that marks an interest that, one day or another, can end up being reflected in a product.
Image | Tyler lastovich