The introduction of the notch to the iPhone’s design has been a contentious one. However, over the years, most have gotten used to it and accepted it, but at the same time, many would probably like to see an iPhone that does away with that particular design choice. It seems that Apple is also in the same camp.
In a patent discovered by Patently Apple, it seems that Apple has cooked up a rather complicated method of hiding the notch which involves a display with moving parts. Basically when the notch and its components are not in use, the display covers it and hides it from view. However, when the front-facing camera or the TrueDepth sensor is required, a part of the display can be moved to reveal the sensors, similar to the diagram you see above.
Like we said, it sounds like a very unnecessarily complicated way of hiding the notch. While it is a possibility, the fact that it uses moving parts means an additional point of failure. Imagine one day your iPhone’s front-facing camera refuses to work or Face ID can no longer function because the display won’t open.
We’ve already seen somewhat similar implementations where some phone makers have chosen to use cameras the slideup or popup as an alternative. It’s hard to say if this is something Apple will actually implement in the future, but what do you think? Does this patent have any merit?
Filed in . Read more about iPhone, Patent and Social Hit. Source: patentlyapple