Apple Patents Technology to Prevent iPhone Fall Damage

The biggest issue with the Apple iPhone since its launch – the source of the most user complaints – was its screen, especially the fact that it shattered rather easily when the handset was accidentally dropped. A new technology freshly patented by the smartphone maker will solve this issue, at least in part, Gizmodo reports. Basically, a future generation of iPhones will fall like a cat.

The new technology, for which Apple has obtained an approved patent recently, is based on the input provided by sensors the iPhones have – gyroscopes, accelerometers and GPS – to the new “protective mechanism” that will recognize when the phone is in free fall. If it detects an imminent disaster – based on metrics like the speed of the fall and the time left until the impact – will reorient the phone using a built in motor to assure the best protection of the phone’s sensitive parts, like its screen and its camera. Due to the use of the Apple iPhone’s vibration motor, the falling iPhone might even screech like a cat, Gizmodo’s Adam Clark Estes writes. The patent includes several other methods of protection for a falling iPhone, and is much more detailed.

Cats are known for their ability to reorient themselves in mid air, while falling, and always landing on their feet. It was just a question of time for this ability to serve as inspiration for smartphone makers to protect their falling phones. I know a guy who is a veritable Apple maniac, buying the latest iPhone as soon as it is released, and invariably smashing in its screen a few months later. Such a method to protect the Apple iPhone’s screen would save him the cost of repeatedly replacing the screen (warranty does not cover the damage caused by the user’s clumsiness, after all). Make no mistake, this technology might not be built into the iPhone 7, or may not be built ever – sometimes companies patent technologies not to be built, but to protect their intellectual property. Still, an iPhone falling on its feet when dropped – it sounds great, doesn’t it?