In a patent application revealed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday, Apple’s Smart Bezel is an electroluminescent display. It is printed in segments on the front edges of the iPhone, designed to complement the main display.
In the illustrations, there are 12 segments shown, and each would be independently controllable, accepting direct touch input, or calling attention to a required touch input on the main screen directly next to that segment.
This patent application, found by Patently Apple, looks similar to the Smart Bezel idea Apple was toying with earlier this year for its iPad. In that concept, four areas on each side of the screen would serve as a touch-sensitive gesture area, perhaps making up for the patent’s proposed absence of that home button so loathed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. While Jobs has never been fond of multiple buttons on any of Apple’s products, maybe the possibility of exotic and magical gestures with this 12-segment technology changed his mind.
When will we see this smart bezel? If the rumors of a larger screen on the iPhone 5 are true, there might not be enough space on the bezel for these buttons, unless they’re on the side or the back of the iPhone.
Apple might not have plans to include this tech on the next iPhone or even the one after that. The company simply wants to stake its claim on this idea before any of its competitors do.