Apple's latest patent for a bendable smartphone might contain clues on future Apple wearables

Since the first rumors surrounding the Apple Watch, up to its impending release, there have been theories and conjectures on why Apple waited this long to release a wearable device. We could logically postulate, as we usually do, that Apple is simply following its usual trend of releasing device on its own schedule, rather than the industry’s.

One thing we have learned about Apple is that its never about the single device, and every new product is nothing but a stepping stone to something greater. According to the US Patents Office, Apple may very well be, if not working right now, at least considering the idea of a smartphone device that truly bends, along with its internal components, including batteries.

Apple’s recently acquired patent number No. 8,929,085 is titled “Flexible electronic devices” and describes specific scenarios, with a focus on solving the age-old problem with the fragility of smartphone screen. iPhone screens, just like any other handheld display, don’t break simply because of the material they are made of. The force of impact, combined with the physics involved in a flat surface, including the device’s own distributed weight, colliding with blunt or irregular bodies, is problematic, even when the impact surface is below the phone’s screen material, in the Mohs scale.

This patent illustrates a viable, and stylish way of preventing iPhone screens from shattering, or even being dropped, as such patent could mean Apple may well be on the brink of designing devices taking the Apple Watch approach a step further, with a truly wearable, standalone smartphone.

The illustrations and diagrams included in the patent seem to point to different degrees and methods of integrating flexibility into flat devices, some inherently applying to devices that fold at certain locations, others describing devices that bend uniformly, either along one rotation axis or two (sideways).

Future bendable iPhone devices might be harder to retire

Significant strides have been made in how batteries and other internal components could be made to flex and bend, which is an important step towards extending the durability and life cycle of devices.

By the technology that is currently available at retail level, smartphones are expected to retire within a widely accepted 2 years or less, which is what phone carriers like about smartphones. Most phone companies require users to sign up for 2 years contracts, which is not by accident, as that’s the typical rate at which new phones are released. This is a time-tested theory, involving empirical evidence shown by the combination of internal components wear and tear, software issues, and of course, drops, collisions and the occasional laundry accident.

Considering the rate at which smartphone hardware and software has improved, we could be heading towards a future where accidental damage is all that stands between our current old phone and our next one, especially if future phones will be able to withstand direct impact, drops and even being thrown across a room, with barely a smudge.