Apple’s new patents are exposed: Folding iPhone and MacBook Pro are coming

For Apple, it is no secret that they are studying the folding screen iPhone, depending on when it will be launched.

A patent application was disclosed in January 2021, and now the patent entitled “Electronic Device with Fiber Composite Friction Hinge” has been granted to Apple.

Apple stated in the patent document that some electronic devices may be connected by hinges. However, if you are not careful, the hinge structure may be bulky, fragile, and easy to slip off.

Apple’s idea is to reduce the volume of the hinge by “using a fiber composite structure” while improving the performance of the hinge.

The patent details what can be on either side of the hinge. For example, set up a circuit on one side and control the display on the other side. But the core of the patent is that the hinge can be made of a very large number of overlapping “fingers”.

Apple said that the fiber composite hinge can have first and second sets of slender fingers that engage each other, and the holes on the slender fingers can receive the shaft of the fastener.

The fastener can then be tightened to squeeze the elongated fingers together along the hinge axis, and the fiber composite hinge can be formed of a fiber composite material, such as a carbon fiber composite material.

In addition to being flexible, the patent also proposes a hinge that can be positioned according to user needs and can be used in the rumored Apple smart ring.

Apple said that when the device is installed on the user’s finger, the hinge part can help grasp both sides of the user’s finger, and the hinge can allow the parts to rotate or move away from each other around the hinge axis.

In fact, before that, Guo Mingchi said that Apple expects to launch an iPhone that supports under-screen fingerprint technology in 2023, and the first folding screen iPhone may be launched in 2024.