Apple Issues Patent for Screen Crack Detection System

It’s the stuff of nightmares for many smartphone owners, but it’s hard to deny the general ethos that as technology gets more advanced, it (largely) becomes a lot more susceptible to breaking. With this in mind, I daresay many of you reading this might have a cracked screen on your phone while a Nokia 3310 resides still perfectly unscathed in your ‘drawer of many purposes’. – Yes, without a doubt, a ‘cracked’ display is one of the most common issues on modern smart devices.

Following a report via TechSpot, however, it would appear that Apple is working on a new technology that could potentially see iPhone users get an ‘early warning’ if a weakness or crack is detected in their screen.

Apple Screen Crack Detection

Now, admittedly, we’re not talking about a detection system here for a screen that is absolutely smashed to pieces. I think both we and Apple would assume that your eyes would be sufficient enough to figure that one out. Instead, we are potentially looking at a form of an ‘early warning’ protection system.

The patent issued shows a new design by Apple that would effectively see a circuit run across the entire perimeter of the screen. If this is broken, through for example a hairline crack, then the idea is that your iPhone would be able to tell you not only that this exists but even perhaps exactly where. – So, your screen has a small crack, but where does this new system actually become useful? Well, although not specifically cited in the patent, we would presume that this ‘early warning’ detection would at least bring the matter to the user’s attention with likely the probability that Apple could then looks towards offering either a repair (roughly along the lines of what you can currently have done to a chip in a car’s windshield) or simply replacing it before the next ‘whoops’ moment results in a huge crack across the screen resulting from the initial weakness.

When Will This Be Introduced?

This is just a patent application and, as such, there is absolutely nothing within it to suggest that Apple will definitely implement this technology in any of their iPhone designs. So, in other words, don’t expect to see this as a ‘key feature’ of the iPhone 13. – The main crux will likely boil down to whether this system is actually practical or not. I daresay that for many people if a crack isn’t visible to the eye, why worry about it?

However, for the more enthusiast consumer, this could prove to be exceptionally useful as an ‘early warning’ detection system. And in a bizarre long-term way of thinking about it, also potentially useful to people who look to buy second-hand models. While certainly interesting, as above, don’t expect to see this make its debut for at least a few years yet. If, indeed, ever at all!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!