iPhone 8 rumours suggest Apple will draw influence from old-school flip phones
THE next iPhone could fold in half just like old fashioned flip phones, it has been claimed.
The Apple rumour mill is swirling with speculation that the tech giant is planning a device which has a flexible display with a hinge at one side.
Another potential model has three hinges - and folds over itself twice.
The details were released in patent filings in the US by the tech giant.
They suggest that Apple is taking a leaf out of Motorola in the 1990s which pioneered the flip phone.
The new iPhone 7 Plus is 6.23 inches long and 3.07 inches wide meaning that some customers have difficulty putting it in their pocket.
According to the website Apple Insider, which monitors Apple’s patent filings, the folding iPhone would need a casing made of nitinol, a nickel and titanium alloy.
Such a mixture would be durable but elastic and can be easily bend. Other options could be flexible polymers.
The patent has two pictures of potential iPhones; one with a single hinge and another with two hinges.
This would allow Apple to put different parts of the phone in different sections such as the processors, sensors and circuitry.
that the upper parts may include the camera, speakers and light sensors whilst the bottom part may include the microphone and the processor.
Apple has a history of making bold moves on its products and removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7, the newest model.
Consumers have to connect their headphones through the same port as the charger or use the wireless headphones that come with the device.
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Apple has filed other patents in the past which could give a clue to future products.
In June it filed a patent for a device which could stop iPhones from taking pictures and videos at concerts.
The technology would allow Apple to turn off mobiles using an infrared emitter that could be installed at venues.
It would mean that the iPhone is ‘temporarily disabled’ whilst everyone enjoys the performance.
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