Apple Patent Shows An All-Glass iPhone With Wrap-Around Display

Time and again we have seen Apple being granted new patents for products that may or may not see the light of the day. Adding to the list of patents is the new one that suggests that future iPhones could be made completely out of glass and have a wraparound touch screen. Granted by the US Patent & Trademark Office, the patent titled “Electronic Device with Glass Enclosure” states that the all-glass iPhone could have “a six-sided glass enclosure,” which essentially means glass from all the sides.

The patent also describes how Apple plans to make all the glass enclosures look like a single piece of glass. “Described herein, however, are electronic devices with enclosures that use glass to define multiple sides of the enclosure… In such cases, the enclosure may appear visually and tactilely seamless, such that the entire enclosure may appear to be formed from a single piece of glass (even though it may be formed from multiple separate pieces attached together),” states the patent.

And since glass will be on all the six sides of the future iPhone, it will also help Apple add more functions on more sides. For instance, as the patent adds, glass sides or the back panel may have additional screens with more functions. In addition, the side and back glass sides may also be touch sensitive or force sensitive, making them interactive.

This also means that all the volume and power buttons on the sides along with the hardware mute switch of an iPhone that you see now, may be replaced with these interactive glass sides, making the entire device look like a glass pebble maybe? Who knows.

Backing this claim are a couple of illustrations inside the patent as well. We could see the phone illustration with curved edges from all the sides with some information showing up on them. It also shows the wallpaper stretched to the sides with some information showing at the bottom side. “For example, a single displayed graphical output (e.g., image, user interface, etc.) may wrap or extend over a front side, one or more peripheral sides, and a back side of the device, thus contributing to the unified appearance of the multiple sides,” states the patent.

But at the end of the day, it’s a patent that may or may not take shape in reality over time. We can only wait and see until then. However, it is for sure that Apple is at least considering working on such a device.―Hindustan Times