Apple acquired a patent about a digital periodical dating back to 2008 from the inventor Harry Vartanian. Then in 2011 Vartanian filed the patent under his company name "HJ Laboratories."  Patently Apple first reported on this invention the sixth time that it was granted, this time under Apple Inc. Apple has continued to add and modify this invention and in total now has five patents to its credit.

It's clear that Apple saw the potential for this invention/patent down the road, but not until last week did we finally see how Apple has taken a radical shift from its original patent, focusing their new patent claims towards all-things related to a "foldable device"

Apple's patent went from a measly 6 patent claims in 2019 to a whole new set of 21 patent claims in their latest continuation patent to greatly expand the invention's potential. In fact, the 21 new patent claims point to a "Foldable Display" 40 times in 20 of the 21 claims.

In late 2020 we posted a rumor report titled "A new Rumor Claims that Apple is working with Several Supply Chain Partners in Preparing for Future Foldable Devices." If true that Apple is preparing such future devices behind the scenes, then it's clear that Apple legal is now out to secure the proper patent claims and rights on as many patents as possible.

Unlike rumors that pop-up in the last part of a product's journey to market, everything Apple has ever released to market has first been patented, and multiple times at that.  

Apple's patent FIG. 2 is the original diagram of a digital periodical having an electronic flexible screen or display.

The patent also supports an alternative scrolling device, though not in this most recent round of patent claims. To get an idea of the scrolling device, see Apple's patent figure below from this patent report.  

As a refresher Apple's patent FIG. 2 above is a perspective view of a scrollable device having a flexible display extended between two housing structures; Apple's patent FIG. 6 is a top view of the device in which the housing for the device has a main portion (housing structure 12-1) and has a smaller portion (housing structure 12-2) that is used as a support bar to help pull the flexible display (#14) from its roller.

A Whole new set of Patent Claims

Below are just 8 of the 21 new patent claims that Apple has added to this invention that is now focused on a possible future folding device.

Patent Claim #2. An electronic device comprising: a foldable display; at least one sensor configured to detect folding of the foldable display; and circuitry configured to resize an image displayed on the foldable display in response to the at least one sensor detecting folding of the foldable display.

Patent Claim 3. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor is configured to detect folding of the foldable display into a given shape and wherein the circuitry is configured to resize the image displayed on the foldable display based on the given shape.

Patent Claim 4. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor is configured to detect folding of the foldable display into a given shape and wherein the circuitry is configured to resize the image displayed on the foldable display to fit the given shape.

Patent Claim 5. The electronic device defined in claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor is configured to detect that a shape of the foldable display has been altered and wherein the circuitry is configured to resize the image displayed on the foldable display in response to the at least one sensor detecting that the shape of the foldable display has been altered.

Patent Claim 6. The electronic device defined in claim 5, wherein the circuitry is configured to resize the image displayed on the foldable display to fit the shape of the foldable display in response to the at least one sensor detecting that the shape of the foldable display has been altered.

Patent Claim 12. The electronic device defined in claim 9, wherein the circuitry is configured to: display content on the additional display while the additional display is positioned at a front of the electronic device; and load content on the foldable display and stop displaying content on the additional display in response to detecting the foldable display being positioned at the front of the electronic device.

Patent Claim 13. An electronic device having first and second opposing sides, the electronic device comprising: a housing; a foldable display coupled to the housing, wherein the foldable display is configured to display content at the first side; an additional display coupled to the housing, wherein the additional display is configured to display content at the second side; one or more sensors configured to obtain sensor data; and circuitry configured to: turn off the additional display and display content on the foldable display in response to the sensor data; and resize an image displayed on the foldable display in response to the sensor data.

Patent Claim 19. An electronic device having first and second opposing sides, the electronic device comprising: a housing; a foldable display coupled to the housing, wherein the foldable display is configured to display content at the first side; an additional display coupled to the housing, wherein the additional display is configured to display content at the second side; one or more sensors configured to obtain sensor data; and circuitry configured to display content on only the additional display while the first side faces a front of the electronic device and load content on the foldable display and stop displaying content on the additional display in response to the sensor data.

To review all 21 patent claims, review continuation patent 20210064094 that was published this week by the U.S. Patent Office.

Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.