Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Next iPhone Will Literally Dodge Drops

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is apparently working on a system that will enable its next-generation iPhones to literally move on its own to mitigate damage from drops, Brian Tong revealed in a report on CNET.

The revelation comes by way of a report from Apple Insider which detailed a newly-granted patent for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) titled “Protective mechanism for an electronic device” [U.S. Patent No. 8,903,519]. Add that to the list of possible patents that are rumored to be utilized for the next iPhones.

“[Apple] was recently awarded a patent for a futuristic iPhone protection system that will recognize when a phone is dropped, calculate its point of impact and then shift its center of gravity to avoid hitting sensitive components. Think of it as the ‘Neo’ from the ‘Matrix’ of iPhones,” Tong said.

The CNET editor then jokingly said that the next iPhone to come from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will likely be named the iPhone Neo.

According to Apple Insider, the new Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) patent “could easily be worked in to an upcoming variant” since the company will only need to tweak some of the technologies it already has inside the iPhone to make this technology work.

While very futuristic indeed, this is not the first time people or companies have looked at reorienting smartphones mid-drop in order to protect them.

Way back in 2011 – ages ago in the technology industry – Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) filed a patent application for a device protection system that includes tiny airbags and jets of air.

The idea is essentially for the phone to detect when it is in a freefall then deploy tiny airbags that cushion its fall and jets of air that will reposition the device to avoid being badly damaged.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shareholders includes David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital which reported a stake of about 9.17 million shares in the company by the end of the third quarter.