Apple's 'all-glass' body iPhone

People using metal-body iPhones already find it difficult to prevent the phone from dent and scratches, and now Apple wants users to use a complete glass body - the front, rear and sides of the phone - iPhone, for which you will have to spend nothing less than Apple's products’ standards.

Calm down. Before you imagine your iPhone in pieces, let us tell you that Apple's plan will become a reality only in 2017.

Apple iPhone 7 or 6SE (what’s in the name!) is set to launch in September, and reports say that Cupertino is sticking with the aluminum body for now. However, a glass iPhone with an OLED curved edge display could launch in 2017, when it is the 10th year anniversary for Apple’s iPhone.

Confirming the reports, Nikkei stated "Apple is using Foxconn to create an ‘all-glass’ iPhone chassis in what will be the most radical redesign of the smartphone line to date - an iPhone design with a screen folded around the front and rear sides of the smartphone, enveloping the phone in a glass display.

The move by Foxconn is said to be an attempt by the company to solidify its position as Apple’s key iPhone supplier.

Another report by Gizmodo confirms the rumor by sharing the patent details. The site reports, "Although the patent was just granted today, it was first filed in 2011. Images in the all-glass iPhone patent show the device with a 30-pin connector rather than the new lightning connector that was released in 2012."

The patent goes on to add the Edge display, which will function as a virtual button or informational display to supplement the main front display, and these virtual buttons may rely on “haptic feedback components, audio feedback components, or other components for providing feedback to a user” when they are activated. It also says such flexible display can be “formed using flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology,” another feature which is rumored will be introduced with the iPhone 8 series.

In the below attached image, you can see how a smartphone with a screen that wraps around the edges of the body would look and operate. The pictures show a display covering the entire front and rear sides of the phone, leaving only small bezels at the top and bottom.

However, this patent fails to explain any immediate benefits from the wraparound screen aside from the fact that it provides more room to display text and images.

Will this rumor turn out to be a reality? The answer remains to be in vague. However, it’s notable to remember that not all patents turn into products, and when they are actually used for products, it usually takes years before people see a real device that they can buy.

If the chance is given, would you buy all-glass body iPhone? Let us know.