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Apple Researching Flexible iPhone Displays with Under-Surface Speakers, Tactile Feedback, Laser Microphones

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Unwired View takes a look at a newly-published Apple patent application addressing the company's interest in flexible displays and related inventions enabled by that technology.

iphone_flexible_displays.jpg



In the patent application, Apple details various iPhone form factors with concave and convex displays, and while such concepts have seen relatively significant work by a host of companies, Apple takes things a step further by using substantial flexibility in its proposed display to integrate features such as a tactile keyboard and microphones and speakers embedded under the display.
E.g. - by placing an array of piezoelectric actuators below the display and activating them on demand for tactile feedback. This way you have a perfectly smooth surface when you browse the net or read your e-mail. Call up a keyboard, actuators pop up and now you can feel the letters as you type.

Since your display is flexible - it could be able react to the sound vibrations as you speak. So why not put a laser microphone behind the display to capture those vibrations, and get rid of traditional mic holes?

And if you can capture sound vibrations via flexible display, how about generating sound waves? No problem. Just put a transducer behind it to transform electric current into vibrations, add some support structure/barrier around it and that part of your flex display becomes a speaker membrane.
Click to expand...
iphone_display_speaker_holes.jpg



Holes in cover layer to accommodate in-display speakers​
Many of the inventions addressed in Apple's patent applications never see the light of day, but they can provide insight on the company's areas of interest and long-term vision for the future of its products.

Article Link: Apple Researching Flexible iPhone Displays with Under-Surface Speakers, Tactile Feedback, Laser Microphones
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/27/apple-researching-flexible-iphone-displays/
T

troop231

macrumors 603
Jan 20, 2010
5,822
553
Cue the iPhone 5F rumors, "F" for flexible. :rolleyes: The most flexible thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone.
 
DAVIDUGLY

DAVIDUGLY

macrumors member
May 16, 2010
57
0
the LG and Samsung demos over the years have been pretty great, so looking forward to their version for sure.
 
B

btbeme

macrumors 6502
Jul 29, 2010
289
749
Samsung just announced flexible displays and a new Droid OS called Ice Cream Scoop.
 
W

winston1236

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2010
1,902
319
Time to rebrand this site as "iphonerumours.com" anyway, its nice to see some new ideas being explored.
 
S

sclawis300

macrumors 65816
Apr 22, 2010
1,472
196
Lets go ahead and call it Screen Gate. I have only had this phone for 3 days and the actuators have already punched a hole in my screen.
 
M

mchoffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
832
52
Asheville, NC
Speaker holes on a touchscreen that you rub your fingers all over? Sounds like a BAD idea to me... oil and dirt would clog them up very quickly, I think.
 
swarmster

swarmster

macrumors 6502a
Jun 1, 2004
640
113
I can see it now: "Meh, all they did was make the display a little bendier. Lame."
 
K

krashx7

macrumors regular
Jul 5, 2012
126
0
mchoffa said:
Speaker holes on a touchscreen that you rub your fingers all over? Sounds like a BAD idea to me... oil and dirt would clog them up very quickly, I think.
Click to expand...

It cleary says UNDER the display. As in you wouldnt see the speaker holes at all.
 
doelcm82

doelcm82

macrumors 68040
Feb 11, 2012
3,746
2,763
Florida, USA
Behindthelens24 said:
How about we take the time and fix the horrible iOS 6 battery life before we start making flexible phones...
Click to expand...
First we have to end hunger. When no child goes to bed hungry in the world, we can start looking at iOS 6 battery life.

If you're going to focus on one thing at a time, get your priorities straight.
 
M

mchoffa

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
832
52
Asheville, NC
krashx7 said:
It cleary says UNDER the display. As in you wouldnt see the speaker holes at all.
Click to expand...

bobobenobi said:
Where do you see anything about holes?
Click to expand...

I was going by the patent image, which has the caption:
"Holes in cover layer to accommodate in-display speakers"

which to me sounds like there are holes on the top layer to let the sounds out from the in display speaker underneath? I guess I misunderstood.
 
K

krravi

macrumors 65816
Nov 30, 2010
1,173
0
wovel said:
Me too :(

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Not sure that work is done by the same people. I am also guessing this patent was filed before customer service received your call about the problem.
Click to expand...

I.. dont want to hear any iMac news.. as I just bought one... :(
 
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