Apple has applied for a patent on a swappable hi-tech rear cover for a smartphone, with an iPhone rear display and additional cameras among the potential applications listed by the company.
The application also appears to describe a way to offer case-like protection without the bulk of a conventional iPhone case …
What Apple describes is not a MagSafe-life attachment to the rear cover of the phone, but rather a complete replacement back which would swap out everything except the camera module.
As always, the patent application is written in extremely dense language. Apple proposes a spring-clip system for attaching removable rear casings – incorporating electrical connections – and lists some of the things which might be included in “supplemental” (that is, optional) rear covers.
The supplemental housing components may also provide additional functionality, such as supplemental batteries, physiological sensors and/or health-monitoring devices, cameras, auxiliary displays, and the like.
Supplemental cameras
The camera module would remain in place, replacement covers having a cutout or window to accommodate this.
The removable rear cover assembly may include a camera window configured to cover a rear-facing camera of the mobile phone in the first assembly configuration.
However, Apple says that one possible accessory cover could incorporate additional cameras.
In another example, the supplemental subsystem may be a supplemental camera, which may include a lens, an image sensor, and associated electronics to facilitate image capture.
Glucose monitor
Among the health sensors that might be offered, Apple suggests a blood glucose monitor.
As another example, the supplemental subsystem may be a blood sugar testing device, and may include a mechanism to receive blood samples (e.g., on paper test strips), and associated analysis components and circuitry to determine a blood glucose level based on the test strip.
Case-like protection
Apple also suggests that this approach could be used instead of a separate iPhone case. In this case, the rear cover would extend further out and include supplemental sides to provide protection for the device.
A supplemental housing component for a mobile phone may include a rear wall removable rear cover assembly of a mobile phone, thereby defining a rear exterior surface of the mobile phone in place of the removable rear cover assembly of the mobile phone, a protective side wall extending from the rear wall and configured to cover at least a portion of a peripheral wall of a housing of the mobile phone.
This would presumably provide similar protection to a case while retaining the slim form of the phone – perhaps aimed at the ultra-thin iPhone reported to be coming in 2025.
9to5Mac’s Take
This is a pretty radical idea by Apple standards, for a company which generally takes the approach of thinking it knows best what its customers want, and for years trying to dissuade them from even removing the existing rear cover.
But the company’s new-found support for Right to Repair perhaps makes this less outlandish than it would once have been, and there could certainly be potential money in the idea. Given how many people now use their iPhone as their main or only camera, the idea of adding supplementary cameras with different focal lengths or features could prove popular.
If I had to put money on it, I’d say this will never happen – but it’s certainly fun to think about!
What options would you like to see Apple offer with this kind of approach? Let us know in the comments.
Via Patently Apple. Photo of Samsung S22 Ultra by Evgeny Opanasenko on Unsplash.
