The first patent, “Privacy films for curved displays,” explores the possibility of adding a privacy film layer to the screen. This film acts like a polarizing filter, allowing light to emit in only one direction. When viewed from the right spot, users experience full brightness and the quality of the retina display.
While similar film layers exist in the market, and you can add one to your smartphone display, they prove to be somewhat limited as visibility is restricted to a single point. This can pose challenges not only for onlookers but also for the device user.
While anyone trying to view the screen from an angle will see a blurry or completely obscured image, this film layer does not provide complete privacy, as anyone standing directly behind the user will still be able to see the screen.
Moving on to the second patent, “Displays with adjustable angles of view,” Apple takes a subtler approach by proposing alterations to the viewing angle of the display.
According to the patent, in a private viewing mode, the control circuitry applies a current to electrodes, causing the electrochromic material to become more opaque, thereby limiting the display’s angle of view. Essentially, this patent introduces an “electrically controllable filter” within the display, giving users control over screen polarization.
Unlike the first approach with an external film layer, this second method integrates privacy features directly into the display itself. The display, comprising a series of substrate layers, could include an additional layer of liquid crystal. This liquid crystal element might incorporate a color filter, enabling users to limit certain colored images to their eyes only.
These patents hint at Apple’s ongoing efforts to enhance user privacy without compromising display quality. As technology continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how these innovations shape the future of smartphone displays.
