A newly-discovered Apple patent shows a foldable device with special techniques to maintain the fold's durability.
We're enthusiastic about the potential of folding smartphones here at Pocket-lint, but we've serious questions about whether the folding parts can actually be durable enough to use them as an everyday device.
Despite being in a backroom at Mobile World Congress this week, plenty of journalists, analysts and suits were able to get up close with Huawei's Mate X and the phone showed no sign of wear. However, the difference between a near-prototype device and something you'll fold thousands of times is quite significant.
We're not getting up close with Samsung's Galaxy Fold until early April.
However, the Apple patent we're talking about here - keeps the area around the fold warm to keep it from cracking because of cold. We presume that the fold would be a screen, but it seems from this patent that it may or may not be a display.
There could be a temperature sensor that detects how warm the folded portion is and if it's too low, some extra heat could be applied via the display - possibly by just activating the display.
Part of the patent (shown below) even details how the device could be held together and prevented from folding if the fold was at a sub-optimal temperature.
