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Hands up if you’ve got a cracked iPhone screen. Now keep your hands raised if you’ve done nothing to fix the issue. I unfortunately fit right into that category of laziness, even when glass is falling from out of the phone. In an era of smartphones, the dreaded cracked screen is one of the biggest first world problems, now, we might just have a solution.
Thanks to the good people at Apple, innovative technology is on the way. The Californian-based company has applied for a “self-healing” patent for foldable smartphone displays to self-repair if damaged. According to the patent, self-healing would be made available to foldable smartphones and be done through external stimulus such as applied heat, light or electric current.
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“The layer of self-healing material may be formed across the entire display cover layer or may be formed only in the flexible region of the display cover layer,” the patent reads. “The display cover layer may include a layer of elastomer in the flexible region of the display cover layer for increased flexibility.”
Apple isn’t the first tech giant to utilise folding smartphones, with Samsung and its ‘Galaxy Fold’ phone a pioneer in the design which is already available to the public. LG attempted self-healing screens in the G Flex in 2013, but it proved ineffective even against scratches. If Apple can nail the technology, it could set its phones apart from competitors.
Stay tuned for further developments.
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