Apple has just been granted 37 new patents, with a couple of them hinting at a very interesting future iPhone. It seems the company has been thinking of ways to make a wraparound all-glass iPhone with advanced tilt controls and a touch-sensitive rear surface.
A wraparound iPhone might sound familiar to some since Apple actually filed a patent for such a device 5 years ago. Patently Apple notes that the brand has added some new details since then, meaning it’s at least working on the idea and hasn’t abandoned it completely.
The iPhone in the patent has a single piece of uninterrupted glass which curves completely at the sides. There’s no steel frame here holding things together. The document describes a mechanism where a user would be able to control the content of their front screen via inputs on the back display.
iPhone Goes Gaming
For instance, a person could tap on the rear side of the phone to move forwards or backwards in a game. They could also flip a page with a flick or scroll through swipes. One particular diagram illustrates how tilting will work.
If the user angles the smartphone forwards or backwards, the handset would be able to detect the tilt and start scrolling in that direction. The more angular the tilt, the greater the scrolling speed. If the device notices that there’s no tilt, it’ll stop scrolling.
Also Read: Apple patent hints at Touch ID, Face ID on same iPhone
All this sounds like it’s geared towards gaming. Apple hasn’t really focused on the gaming aspects of the iPhone too much, mostly just pointing out how fast its processor and GPU are. Android manufacturers have taken a different approach, releasing phones aimed squarely at gamers.
Some like Nubia have already launched devices with a touch-sensitive secondary screen at the back. As you can see in the image above, the handset has a left and right button at the rear. Perhaps Apple is thinking about an iPhone along the same lines.