Two recently published Apple patent applications — one for an electronic device with wraparound display, another for a ceramic enclosure for a device — could offer insight into the company’s future devices. The first application involves a device that would include a flexible display enclosed within a transparent housing, enabling the display to have greater surface area. Within the application, it’s noted that there is “a need for an improved form factor for portable electronic devices which allows functionality to extend to more than one surface of the device.
” Such a display would require use of a detection system to identify how a user is interacting with the device, and could provide volume controls on one of the display’s sides, for example. The device’s AMOLED display could be unrolled into one continuous band, as illustrated.
Another application focuses on techniques for fabricating a laminated ceramic housing around a device.
The ceramic enclosure would be multi-layered for increased strength, yet it would remain lightweight. Such a ceramic housing could be a unibody design, like the iPhone 5. [via Apple Insider]
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