Future iPhones may be able to prevent their screens from cracking

It’s funny how, after the numerous high-tech features and improvements that Apple has added to the iPhone over the years, it’s still just as easy to break an iPhone’s screen as it was eight years ago. Fortunately, that may be about to change, as Apple has apparently developed “active screen protection for electronic devices,” which would be able to detect when your iPhone is falling and take measures to prevent it from cracking when it hits the ground. 

We’ve seen dozens of innovations throughout the lifespan of the iPhone line, but many users would forego 3D Touch, Touch ID and even an extra gigabyte of RAM if Apple could just stop their screens from cracking when they hit the ground. It’s been a major issue ever since flip phones went out of style, but we still don’t have many great solutions. Sure, you could wrap your phone in a case that doubles its size, but that’s not something that everyone can get behind. So what if instead of having to buy an accessory to keep your phone safe, your phone protected itself instead? That appears to be exactly what Apple is proposing. In a recent patent application titled “active screen protection for electronic device,” Apple claims to have invented a system with “multiple screen protectors moveable between a retracted position and extended position where they extend above the screen to create a gap, and one or more sensors.”