While we’ve seen examples before, Apple’s first iPhone marked a turning point in the adoption of touchscreens. And the company could turn things around once again with future iPhone models and possibly its first foldable iPhone.
As first spotted by Apple Insider, Apple has filed a new patent aimed at the use of touch-sensitive solid-state buttons without physical buttons.
Titled “Electronic Devices with Display and Touch Sensor Structures,” the patent details how “control circuits, batteries, and other components” will sit within the “walls” of an iPhone case. These walls “may have opaque parts and transparent parts,” the document continues, “and may include layers of opaque plastic, metal, fiber-composite materials, and other materials.”
There have been rumors before that the iPhone 15 could have touch power and volume buttons, and this new Apple patent seems to back up the rumors.
Apple’s solution showing a potential foldable phone may be more interesting. Alongside the basic drawings of a foldable iPhone, Apple also explains how the touch sensors will fit inside “sidewalls” made up of “thin lines of metal that are too small to be seen with the naked eye.”
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