Apple is planning to launch a foldable iPhone: Report

The year is definitely going to see some foldable phones getting launched. After Samsung gave the world the first look at its foldable phone at its developer conference in November last year, a number of other companies confirmed that they are working on their foldable devices too.

Till now, we know that Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, LG, Lenovo and Motorola will be launching their foldable or bendable smartphones this year. And now, a piece of similar news has come from Cupertino-based technology giant Apple. The company has updated a patent with drawings of a foldable clamshell phone. We should mention that this is not a new patent. In fact, it was originally filed in 2011 and updated in 2016 with what looked like a drawing of an iPhone that has a flexible display.

We should mention that this has been updated just days before Samsung’s Unpacked event that will be held in San Francisco on February 20. The South Korean smartphone giant is expected to show its foldable phone Galaxy F at the event, besides launching its new flagship Galaxy S10 lineup.

In the drawings, it can be seen that the upcoming smartphone by Apple will fold in half and looks very similar to the design of Motorola’s upcoming Moto Razr phone that surfaced online a few weeks back. To recall, the new Moto Razr in the designs is shown to be a normal sized full-screen smartphone that can be folded into a compact device that would fit in one’s palm. This was particularly in contrast with Samsung and Xiaomi’s designs that show tablet-sized devices being folded into a smartphone.

Coming back to Apple’s patents, it can be seen that the company will be placing hinges and housing around a flexible OLED display in order to make it bend. In addition to this, drawings of a clamshell design and a trifold design have also surfaced online.

The drawings show flexible displays folding inwards and outward. This can also mean that the foldable screen may also make its way a MacBook or an iPad, in addition to an upcoming iPhone.

We should mention that these are just patent drawings and in no way does it mean that Apple will be launching the foldable iPhone this year. We cannot surely say when the foldable phone by Apple will be launched until the company officially comments on the same.