On Tuesday, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple a patent that gives credence to those rumours of an edge-to-edge OLED iPhone. For years, users have longed for a phone that’s totally made up of a screen — no bezel needed — and this looks like one way it could happen.
Image: USPTO
The patent, which was filed in February 2015, is for “electronic devices having displays with openings”. It describes a device with openings that could allow various electronic components — such as cameras, light sensors or speakers — to be mounted behind the display.
The openings in the display would allow information from those various sensors (or the camera) to transmit information. As Apple Insider notes, the openings could be small enough that the human eye wouldn’t even see them, allowing the components to be hidden away and the phone to just appear like one giant piece of screen.
The patent also allows for a built-in heads-up display, which could align with some of Apple’s rumoured plans for augmented reality.
Like all patents, there’s no guarantee this implementation will make it into a final product, but it does give some insight how an all-glass edge-to-edge iPhone could work.
[USPTO via AppleInsider]