Rollable iPhones may be coming in the future

Foldable devices and smartphones may be the future and companies such as Samsung and Motorola are ready to explore the foldables’ world. Apple has not attempted to offer us a foldable iPhone yet.

However, multiple patents, submitted by Apple to the The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), suggest that a foldable iPhone may still be an option that Apple considers or looks into. Today, Apple submitted another interesting patent - one considering an “electronic device with flexible display structures”. According to the patent submission, the display may fold around one or more axes.

What’s more, the patent application mentions “rollers” that store the display of the device and deploy it from within a housing. Additionally, the display is said to have a touchscreen, and magnets are to make sure the rolled flexible display doesn’t wrinkle. Apparently, the display will have “unrolled state” and “rolled state”. It’s also said that the housing for the display may have a rigid touch screen and perform the function of a virtual keyboard.



This patent may apply not only to iPhones, but to MacBooks, iPads, and even Apple Watch. It’s also possible that the device may have more than two rollers, and the patent does not specify how many of these may be needed.