Apple’s latest patent application offers an attractive picture of how the company conceives long-lasting devices, which could be influenced by recent right-to-repair legislation.
The patent application (via Patently Apple) hints at a long-lasting device with a detachable back panel, which can be replaced with panels with one or more additional hardware features.
Additional parts, from the back case that acts as a protective case to the addition of extra batteries, fitness tracking devices, and even a moment display.
The patent even mentions an example of a rear panel that includes an additional camera module. All of this would be connected via a spring-loaded clip system, as the patent explains in wordy language.
“The spring-loaded coupling detail can be conductively coupled to the housing design and can be configured to mechanically and electrically mate fasteners. “In short, the backplates can be replaced smoothly through some sort of spring-loaded trigger.
One of the patent photographs includes other backplate equipment, adding the battery panel, camera module, and more speakers.
A symbol of Apple’s iPhone patent application.
When I first saw this, I immediately thought of the LG G5, the first modular phone. The G5 had a removable battery that came out of the back of the device, a spring-loaded clip formula, and took the chin off the phone. with that.
This meant that other modules could simply be replaced, such as a larger battery, an additional camera, a DAC, and even a VR component. Sound familiar? LG’s choice of a modular phone is largely a product of its time.
A flight attendant presents a new LG G5 style from South Korean multinational conglomerate LG at a press conference on the eve of the official launch of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 21, 2016. La world’s largest mobile industry fair, the Mobile World Congress, which has a stand from February 22 to 25. Getty Images)
Before the G5, Google had long toyed with the same concept through its Project Ara phone, a modular phone designed to reduce electrical waste. The company discontinued the device in 2016, but it’s clear that the concept is still dead.
A modular iPhone is incredibly far-fetched for a company like Apple, which likes to innovate slowly and surely. Patents are also notoriously unreliable signs of long-lasting devices. That said, Apple is working on making its phones less difficult to repair, thanks. to some not too mild tension on the part of legislators.
Apple has redesigned the internal architecture of the iPhone 15’s chassis to make it easier to remove the back panel, making it easier to repair. The patent suggests a simpler edition of it. In recent years, the company has also created a car-repair kit for other people who need to fix their appliances at home.
Apple has also partially waived its parts pairing policy and will make it less difficult for users to switch hardware and calibrate those parts on the iPhone 16.
In April, it said that “some” iPhone models would now have “all the features and security presented through the original factory calibration, such as new genuine Apple parts. “
Previously, Apple required that hardware replacing an iPhone be manufactured by Apple and calibrated by the company to function properly. The update was made at least in part thanks to a competing right to repair bill passed by the Oregon Legislature.
Apple’s softened stance on who can modify its devices and redesign iPhones to make it less difficult to update parts means that this patent application is arguably not a fairy tale.
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