Apple patents wraparound smartphone screen technology

'Transparent housing and flexible display assembly' may feature in company's next devices

Apple has filed a patent that appears to describe wraparound screen technology for smartphones.

According to a patent application filed in September 2011, but only revealed publicly this week, future Apple smartphones could include a screen that wraps all the way round the phone, and may even layer on top of a second OLED screen for "an illusion of depth perception", which may be "mimicking a 3D experience".

According to the document, which was filed by Apple product design engineer Scott Myers, form factor is "an interesting area for development given that a large majority of portable electronic devices have settled into a standard form factor; namely a flat planar form factor with a display on one side and an opaque housing which contains the electrical components covering the rear surface of the device."

The application reasons that this factor "leaves the sides and rear surfaces... unused", or covered with buttons and switches. It appears Apple wishes to change all that.
The application describes a flexible display that can be "wound, or rolled, up into a shape consistent with the shape of the lumen [the scientific name for the interior space of a tube] in order to create a wraparound screen.

Further, it says, a "second flexible display can be inserted". Visual content can then be displayed by the first screen "out of temporal phase with the visual content" of the second. This is described as "an illusion of depth perception... mimicking a 3D experience".

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Examiner has revealed that the "next two generations" of iPhone were developed during the reign of Steve Jobs, a San Francisco attorney being told by the company that work on the devices "preceded Tim Cook". The revelation gives further ammunition to those critics who say the company is no longer a leader in mobile innovation.

Do you think a wraparound, pseudo 3D-screen could turn Apple's business around and boost its stock value? Or is the design just a needless gimmick with no productivity value? Let us know in the comments below.