Apple has submitted a patent application detailing a “six-sided glass enclosure” for an iPhone, aiming to realize former design chief Jony Ive’s vision of a device resembling a “single slab of glass.”
Jony Ive, although no longer with Apple in his previous capacity, articulated a long-term hardware objective for the iPhone: to appear as a singular piece of glass. Apple launched the iPhone X in 2017, representing the company’s initial significant stride toward this design concept. Subsequent progress in this direction has been incremental. The bezels on iPhone models have gradually diminished in width, yet they remain visibly present on current devices.
Achieving a complete elimination of bezels necessitates a curved display that extends and bends around the device’s sides. While the Apple Watch employs a technique that creates a similar visual effect by concealing bezels beneath curved glass, Apple’s specific aim for the iPhone is to ensure the active display surface extends fully into these curved edges. Samsung implemented a comparable design with the sides of its earlier Galaxy Edge series, where the display wrapped around the edges. However, this design approach required substantial “forehead” and “chin” areas on the device. Consequently, Samsung shifted its design priority to focusing on producing the thinnest possible bezels rather than continuing with the curved edge display that necessitated larger top and bottom bezels. Apple, however, is reportedly pursuing a design that would make the entire iPhone appear as a solid, monolithic piece of glass.
The recently filed patent application, titled “Electronic Device With Six-Sided Glass Enclosure,” outlines the technical specifications for this design. The patent describes an electronic device featuring a six-sided glass enclosure that defines an interior volume. This enclosure is composed of at least two distinct glass members. Specifically, the first glass member forms at least a portion of a first major side of the enclosure and at least a portion of a peripheral side. This first glass member also defines a first region along the peripheral side with a specific thickness and a second region along the peripheral side with a different thickness. The second glass member is securely attached to the first glass member and constitutes at least a portion of a second major side of the six-sided glass enclosure.
The patent further specifies that a touchscreen display is positioned within the interior volume of the device. This display is situated adjacent to at least a portion of each of the six sides of the glass enclosure. The phrasing “at least a portion of” in the patent indicates that the device may not be entirely glass, acknowledging potential manufacturing or functional limitations. Despite this, Apple states that the design aims to convey the visual and tactile impression of a single, continuous slab of glass. The patent text asserts, “The enclosure may appear visually and tactilely seamless, such that the entire enclosure may appear to be formed from a single piece of glass (even though it may be formed from multiple separate pieces attached together).”
The application also details that content would be visible and displayed on every edge of the device, and these edges would simultaneously be touch-sensitive. This functionality is described in the patent: “The electronic device may further include a touch-sensitive display assembly attached to an interior surface of the enclosure and configured to display graphical outputs visible through at least a portion of each of the two major sides and at least a portion of each of the four peripheral sides of the enclosure, and detect touch inputs applied to the enclosure.”
The patent also addresses practical design considerations, specifying that the glass enclosure would incorporate strategically placed holes to accommodate essential components such as microphones and speakers. The company acknowledges that the actual manufacturing of such a device is still a considerable distance in the future. In the interim, the iPhone 17 Air, which is anticipated to be the slimmest iPhone model produced to date, represents the closest forthcoming development in terms of physical design innovation.
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