iPhone 13 successors could tell you when its screen is cracked and broken

Date:
Tue, 10 Aug 2021 22:44:53 +0000

Description:
A new patent suggests the iPhone 13s successors could detect damage to the display and warn the user.

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What if Apple phones coming after the iPhone 13 could tell you when your display has been damaged or cracked?

A newly-published Apple patent reveals the company has explored advanced displays that can detect damage in the screen via a strain sensing resistor that gathers strain measurements. Presumably, this would enable the phone to find cracks that are too small to notice and alert users of the damage before it gets worse and potentially harms them or the phones delicate internals.

The patent doesnt just cover static displays but also includes flexible displays as well, potentially including a folding Apple phone like the
rumored iPhone Flip , as AppleInsider pointed out. Its still unclear what
kind of display Apple would use in its own foldable, but given prior devices in the niche like the original Samsung Galaxy Fold have had more
scratch-prone screens than handsets with glass displays, in-screen damage detection could be helpful. We know Apple is concerned a previous patent conceptualized a crack-preventing layer for foldable phone displays. Apple's patent #11,087,670 showing a circuit design to detect cracks in a display (Image credit: Apple / USPTO)

While future flat and folding iPhones may be best suited for crack-detecting screen tech given how often users damage phone displays, the patent doesnt limit its tech to just handsets. Indeed, it openly lists different product categories that such display tech could feature in, like computers and wristwatch devices.

In other words, we could see everything from MacBook Pros to iMacs to Apple Watches to iPads pack displays that automatically detect cracks which would be universally helpful. Theres no reason for Apple not to include it. (Image credit: Future)

That presupposes a lot about the detection technology, though we have no
idea whether it would be just as feasible to implement in a large 27-inch
iMac screen as it would in the latest iPhones, which max out at a 6.7-inch display. It would make sense to deploy it first in Apple phones and then roll it out to its broader lineup.

Lastly, it would just be cool for Apple to one-up its rivals in the display arena given how it typically lags behind in mobile screen tech we only just got OLED displays in last years iPhone 12 range, which is years after Samsung and other Android phonemakers added them to their premium handsets.

We wouldnt expect Apple to roll out crack detection anytime soon, especially since this is the first were hearing about it. Currently, the company is slowly upgrading its devices displays to mini-LED like in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2021 (and, rumor has it, the MacBook Pro 2021 laptops), so crack
detection could be the screen tech that comes after as the next must-have advancement in Apples lineup. Stay on top of tech news with the TechRadar newsletter



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/iphone-13-successors-could-tell-you-when-its-sc reen-is-cracked-and-broken/


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