Two iPhone 15 models are on display on the first day of sales at an Apple Store at The Grove in Los … [+]
Apple’s latest patent application paints an interesting picture of how the company is thinking about future devices, which could be influenced by recent Right To Repair legislation.
The patent application (via Patently Apple) hints at a future device with a removable back panel, which can be swapped in and out for panels with one or more additional hardware features.
The additional components range from the rear housing acting as a protective case, to adding in supplemental batteries, health monitoring devices and even a second display.
The patent even details one example of a rear panel that includes an additional camera module. This would all be connected via a spring clip system, as the patent explains in typically verbose language.
“The spring coupling element may be conductively coupled to the housing structure and may be configured to both mechanically and electrically couple to attachment features.” In short, the back plates should be easily swappable via some kind of spring release.
One of the patent images includes an array of different backplate load-outs, including the battery panel, camera module and additional speakers.
An image from 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 popped out of the bottom of the device, via a spring clip system and took the phone’s chin with it.
That meant other modules could be swapped in, like a bigger battery, an additional camera, a DAC and even a VR component. Sound familiar? LG’s go at a modular phone was very much a product of its time.
A hostess shows a new LG G5 model of South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation LG during a … [+]
Before the G5, Google had long played with the same idea via its Project Ara handset—a modular phone designed to reduce electrical waste. The company shelved the device in 2016, but clearly, the idea hasn’t died yet.
A modular iPhone seems extremely far-fetched for a company like Apple, which likes to innovate slowly and surely. Patents are notoriously unreliable indicators of future devices, too. With that said, Apple has been edging towards making its phones easier to repair thanks to some not-to-gentle pushes from legislators.
Apple redesigned the internal chassis architecture of the iPhone 15 to make it easier to remove the back panel, and therefore simpler to repair. The patent suggests an easier version of this. In previous years the company also created a self-repair kit for people who want to fix their devices at home.
Apple has also partially walked back its parts pairing policy and will make it easier for users to swap hardware, and calibrate those components, in the iPhone 16.
In April it said that “select” iPhone models will now benefit “from the full functionality and security afforded by the original factory calibration, just like new genuine Apple parts.”
Previously Apple had required replacement hardware in an iPhone to be both made by Apple and calibrated by the company to work properly. The change in stance was at least in part because of an aggressive Right To Repair bill passed by the Oregon legislature.
Apple’s softening of its stance on who can tinker with its devices, and redesigning iPhones to make it easier to swap out parts, means this patent application might not be a complete fairy tale.