Patently Apple first covered Apple's iPhone mini invention back in 2013. U.S. Patent records dates that invention to prior 2011. Yesterday, one Apple news site considered this patent a "resubmission." Technically it's not. The patent application and examination process is not static. After an inventor files a non-provisional patent application, there may be opportunities to modify or expand claims made in the original "parent" application. Continuation-type patent applications are vehicles through which inventors can strengthen the protections afforded to their innovations and respond to changes in technology, the marketplace, or the invention itself. And this is exactly why Apple had updated their original invention that was granted yesterday.

In this latest continuation patent, Apple decided to add Face ID to its iPhone mini-styled design that somewhat plays off their iPod nano 5^th Generation design. It was in that timeframe that this iPhone mini was conceived. 

The first three patent claims of this newly granted patent are of most interest as follows:

Claim 1: An electronic device having front and rear surfaces, the electronic device comprising: a housing; a first display portion on the front surface and a second display portion on the rear surface; a camera on the front surface configured to capture an image; and control circuitry configured to process the captured image using facial recognition software and to adjust visual content on the second display portion based on the captured image.

Claim 2: The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry is configured to track user movement based on the captured image.

Claim 3: The electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the control circuitry is configured to adjust a location of the visual content on the second display portion based on the user movement.

You could read granted patent 11940844 in its entirety along with the other 17 new patent claims here.

Apple held onto the one-handed controlled small iPhone design for way too long and eventually gave way to the trend that Samsung established with the Phablet. With giant displays now the norm, who would ever go back to a smartphone with a tinier display than the original 2007 iPhone? No adult would.

In the end, Apple could decide to sell this patent to a company interested in this design, hence the update to included facial recognition as a way of modernizing this concept.

On a long-shot, Apple could be considering such an iPhone mini design for the preteen market (8-12). Parents may want to have an alternative styled mobile phone for their children so that they could have access to a phone for emergencies and basic communications, access to music, games, texting, but not necessarily access to social media apps and the dangers associated with online activities. A family with 3 or more preteens would also be able to afford to purchase multiple smaller iPhones.   

Considering that an ex-Apple designer introduced the "ai pin" last year that could double as a communication device without a large display, and T-Mobile is working on an AI smartphone without "apps," smartphone alternatives may be a new trend to watch for going forward, and a trend that could open the door for a reimagined ancient iPhone design.