Apple’s new patent points to future foldable devices with touch-sensitive chassis

Apple has been awarded yet another patent for a foldable device, with the latest embodiment featuring a clamshell design with touch-sensitive areas on the sides that serve as virtual buttons (via CNBC).

Filed by Apple in April 2021 and approved this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the new patent explores ideas for “Electronic Devices With Display and Touch Sensor Structures” and envisions how parts of a device could work as input surfaces to augment the display or for use when the display is folded up.