Science

Apple’s Curved iPhone Detailed in Concept Render, and It Looks Incredible

Is this what Apple is working on?

Flickr / Ik Razu

Apple may be working on a curved screen iPhone, and a new concept render shows why it could bring an interesting retro twist to the smartphone line. A report on Wednesday claimed that the company is developing a display that curves from top to bottom, as opposed to Samsung’s screens that curve at the sides, alongside a gesture control system.

“Most phones look the about the same - boring, flat, rectangles,” Elijah Waeterling, managing editor for iDrop News, tells Inverse. “That’s a “big problem” and Apple wants to fix it. We know that Apple is currently developing a curved iPhone with touchless gesture controls: but could Apple’s curved iPhone look similar to this? Inspired by Nokia’s famous 8110 ‘Banana Phone,’ these concept images imagine a curved iPhone with a protective sliding mechanism. The device is narrower than the iPhone 8, ensuring it’s comfortable to type with only one hand; and its curved design is more pleasant to hold when speaking on the phone.”

The curved iPhone in action.

iDrop News

The concept would be a marked difference from past iPhone launches, which have maintained the same flat form factor since its introduction in 2007. The iPhone X, released in November 2017, was one of the company’s biggest changes to the product line yet, ditching the home button in favor of a gesture-controlled system with face recognition, but even this system maintained the flat screen.

The company is also rumored to be developing a motion-controlled screen that can sense hand movements when hovering away from the screen, similar to science fiction interfaces like the computer in Minority Report. The move would be akin to the 3D Touch force controls introduced with the iPhone 6S in 2015, but a hover-controlled iPhone is at least two years away, if not more.

The report suggests Apple will leave the Matrix-style phone for another year and concentrate on improving the X for this year’s lineup, with an updated 6.5-inch model and 5.8-inch model joining a cheaper model that skips the high-end OLED screens.

iPhone users will have to wait a bit longer before going curved.

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