New Apple patent reveals how iPhones of the future could look with laser diodes on the edge

FUTURE models of the Apple iPhone could see a touch bar on the side of the device, a new patent shows.

The technology would allow users to scroll by having their fingers touch the display, creating smudges and blocking the view.

The feature could also enable force touch on a display with an Apple Pencil, which currently only works with an IPad.

The force of the pencil could also determine how the device reacts.

For example, a harder touch could mean a darker shade or brightness.

The tech could work on Mac as well, though that remains to be seen.

Another game-changing feature included in the new patents is the possibility of light being an option to direct the screen in lieu of a touch screen.

Essentially, reflected light would connect with a laser to create a response.

This would allow the use of the phone when wearing gloves or having dirty hands.

“The devices, methods, and systems may include an optical waveguide, positioned on or adjacent to the input surface, into which a laser diode inserts light, the patent reads

“The light may be inserted and undergo total internal reflections as it traverses the length of the optical waveguide until, in some embodiments, it reflects from a full or partial reflector at an end of the optical waveguide, the end being at a known distance from the insertion location of the light (e.g., from the diode).”

“ In the absence of a user’s touch on the input surface, the inserted light that is reflected from the reflector may be received back into the lasing cavity of the laser diode to cause self-mixing interference of the light existing within the laser cavity and the reflected light.

It is not known if or when the patents would be available on future models.