Apple’s foldable phone, the Duo, has a hinge designed and manufactured with the assistance of artificial intelligence and 3D printing, the company has revealed.
The hinge is central to Apple’s efforts to address one of the biggest weaknesses of foldable smartphones: the wear caused by repeatedly opening and closing the device. The company says the Duo includes several measures intended to improve its durability.
Johny Srouji, Apple’s chief hardware officer, said algorithms are used during production to match every hinge with the housing best suited to it, helping ensure precise alignment.
“During manufacturing, we use AI algorithms to precisely match each individual hinge with its best-fit housing to ensure perfect alignment, and a confocal laser progressively scans the topology of every single unit, and 3D prints up to 25 micro layers of a custom photopolymer to eliminate residual waviness,” he said at Apple’s Surprise and Shine event.
The laser inspection process maps the surface of each hinge before the photopolymer layers are added to correct remaining irregularities. Apple has not said how long the mechanism is expected to remain in peak condition under everyday use.
Mr Srouji also said the Duo would have a custom nano-texture finish designed to reduce glare and reflections, alongside a multi-layer lamination process intended to strengthen the phone.
Foldable devices are exposed to substantially more mechanical movement than conventional smartphones, and their displays and hinges can deteriorate over time. Whether Apple’s manufacturing techniques can prevent that degradation will only become clear after the Duo has been used widely and for an extended period.
