Apple’s iPhone is an impressive piece of tech, or at least it is until you drop it on the ground, at which point it transforms into nothing more than a slab of all-too-breakable aluminum and glass. For all it’s touted features, the iPhone remains frustratingly fragile, but Apple has just patented a new, unexpected solution for broken iPhone screens.
No, they’re not going to start making the phones out of sturdier, more expensive parts, don’t be silly. Instead the company has come up with a way of making iPhones right themselves in mid-air, so they’ll always land on their backs. In other words, future iPhones will be able to fall like cats.
A diagram of you saving 250 bucks.
Apple’s new “protective mechanism” will use a complex combination of gyroscopes, accelerometers, and GPS to detect when the phone is falling, then use on-board motors to reorient the phone in mid-air. Humorously the patent also provides a few other ways to protect the phone, including air-foil wings and air canisters that would lower the phone to the ground like a jet pack. No, really.
Of course this patent doesn’t guarantee Apple will actually include this tech in future phones. A broken iPhone isn’t a problem for Apple after all, and going out of their way to extend the life of their products isn’t really the company’s MO. I suspect Apple won’t wipe out cracked iPhone screens until one of their competitors deploys similar tech.
Via Gizmondo