The launch of Apple’s foldable mobile phone is only a matter of time. And that time seems to be arriving in light of a new patent that gives us a device that is unique in both design and operation.

We’ve been talking about a foldable iPhone for five years. Many analysts find it strange that Apple has not yet entered this market, although the Cupertino firm is known to lead at its own pace, as we saw with the Vision Pro viewer for mixed reality, when the competition of any new technology arrives later it is well known: Others have done it first, but we will do it better.

What we know about the device so far comes from a patent for an iPhone with a foldable and/or dual display. It was posted on the United States Patent and Trademark website and appeared to be a general patent that covered virtually every form factor possibility: clamshell; with two or three screens; with folded or unfolded side and with internal and external screens of the device.

Apple’s foldable mobile phone appears in a new patent

The new patent is much more specific than the previous one and shows a innovative hinge design for this iPhone. The design is quite similar to the folding clamshell model Motorola Razr or Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, the best-selling in its segment.

However, the hinge mechanism used is different and novel, with a greater range of motion as would potentially allow The device will fold in both directions, i.e. in and out. It would be a unique device because we don’t know of any foldables with such a capacity.

According to leaked patent images, this folding mechanism could be applied to a wide range of devices (including the iPad and MacBook) and not just mobile phones. The patent images also show that the hinge would have timing gear discs with interlocking teeth, allowing a “synchronized rotational movement between the left and right hinge halves”.

That’s obvious hinge and screen are the key points of these folding devices. And they caused problems for other manufacturers in the first commercial versions. Apple wants a device that can last at least 100,000 folds/unfolds. As for the screens, it will depend on the best folding technology available at the time of production, but will certainly use flexible OLED panels from LG, with whom it has a supply contract.