Future iPhones, including the folding model that Apple would be working on, could come with a new feature that could mark a before and after in the smartphone industry. The Cupertino company has published a new patent in which they detail a system that would allow interaction with different parts of the device chassis to execute some functions that, until now, we can only do through the touch screen.
The patent, specifically, describes the main disadvantages of touch screens. One of them is the fact that the user’s hand can block the images displayed on the screen when interacting with it. Apple also states that “displays are sometimes not viewable from certain directions and may be smaller than desired.” He further highlights that while the solution of implementing “physical buttons and other input devices” can be useful to “collect input from a user” and thus avoid touching the screen, these are less convincing and intuitive.
The solution, therefore, is to create a touch sensor on the body of the device that allows you to perform some actions and thus avoid interacting with the panel or with physical buttons, as until now. One of the actions that Apple describes, and which the company calls the “virtual shutter button,” involves making gestures on the iPhone’s side macro to control some camera settings. This touch sensor on the chassis could also be useful for, for example, controlling the volume using gestures.
The curious thing about the patent, we reiterate, is that Apple describes the mechanism showing a diagram of a mobile with a flexible screen, so it would not be strange to see this touch chassis in the next foldable iPhone. We must not forget, of course, that it is a patented technology, and that this does not ensure that the company is working on it.
The launch of the folding iPhone, yes, is still unknown. In fact, and according to recent rumors, Apple could first launch a kind of iPad with a flexible screen, whose panel, when folded in half, will make it possible to turn the device into a kind of Mac. Well, the lower part of the screen would become a kind of virtual keyboard.
In any case, we must not forget that the company could make a significant change to the iPhone 15 button panel. The volume and power keys, in particular, would be modified by a solid-state mechanism. This would make the pulsation, in a way, virtual, not physical. Undoubtedly, this novelty could mark the beginning of a transition to an iPhone without ports and a touch chassis, such as the one described in the patent.