Apple is reportedly working on a new technology that will allow iPhones and iPads with flexible screens to detect drops and autonomously fold up on the way to the ground to minimize damage.
As per AppleInsider, the info came from the tech giant’s new patent application titled ‘Self-Retracting Display Device And Techniques For Protecting Screen Using Drop Detection’.
The display itself, according to the tech giant, can opt to break away, regardless of how the gadget folds at the hinge or whether a screen can be removed from a base chassis.
Instead of a potentially fragile hinge, the display can detach or fold to protect the screen.
“Mobile devices with foldable and rollable displays can use a sensor to detect vertical acceleration (e.g., acceleration with respect to the ground) to determine if the mobile device has been dropped,” the patent application said.
“If the sensor detects that the mobile device has been dropped… the foldable device can retract at least partially to afford protection from the fragile display from striking the ground,” it added.
This means there are two options: retracting or releasing the screen.
“(For example, the process) can include activating a release mechanism for a hinged connection between a first and second display of the electronic device when the vertical acceleration exceeds a predetermined threshold,” Apple wrote in the application, “wherein the activation reduces an angle between the first and second displays below a threshold angle.”
