Apple is reportedly working on a phone with a “self-healing” display

There’s a reason Wolverine is considered to be one of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel universe. It’s not his claws or Adamantium skeleton, there are plenty of other folks that can cut things or withstand being shot in the chest. What makes Wolverine unique, and a hero worth fearing if you’re a baddie, is his ability to rapidly heal from nearly every wound. He’s so durable, the only way to actually prevent him from regenerating is by cutting his head off. He’s an unstoppable machine of hair, cigars and gravelly-throated “Bub”s. It’s with this image in mind that we believe Apple patented its new invention, which is a display that can heal itself. Although we doubt an iPhone with such technology could withstand a bullet quite like Logan.

Healing factor

The patent, which was filed last night, is for a foldable smartphone with a “self-healing display”. Which sounds just sci-fi enough to be total nonsense but it’s actually a real thing! According to the patent, the device would be able to fix superficial damage to the phone’s display without a user’s input. The whole process occurs automatically when the phone is charging and will use a mixture of heat, light and an electric current to repair the screen. So nothing like LG’s self-healing G Flex smartphone, then.

Apple’s patent sounds like complete mumbo-jumbo but self-healing devices have been around for almost a decade now. LG ‘s G Flex, which sounds just a little too naughty for 2020, had somewhat similar technology. A tiny scratch from a nick would vanish from the phone’s screen but anything more robust couldn’t be treated in the same way.

Now, just because a patent has been filed for some kind of foldable iPhone that can heal itself doesn’t mean we’ll actually see anything like that in the future. Big tech companies file all kinds of patents in case they might want to do something with it in the future, thus preventing others from getting there beforehand. Still, a foldable phone that’s able to deal with the damage it’ll doubtless take is a really cool idea.

(Source: The Verge)