2 Likely Cool iPhone 6 Features for its Q1 2014 Debut: Bendable Headphone & Gift-Giving Via NFC
The iPhone 6 is being envisioned as radically departing from the iPhone 5 design template so it is safe to assume that many of its features are of 2014 standard like beaming out files through NFC and an unbreakable headphone.
Apple's new patents point to planned killer features that likely will not be part of the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, which the tech giant will reportedly unleash in September, leaving the phablet-size iPhone 6 to first enjoy the new technology.
Since analysts are looking to first quarter of 2014 as the period in which Apple will release the bigger iPhone, then it is the first iOS 7 device that will introduce the 'tradition of gift-giving' between two proximate devices, governed by near-field communication or NFC.
To date, there is no indication that Apple will stuff NFC-capability with the 5S or 5C so the two handsets are out of the equation.
The patent envisions an iPhone 6 user sending digital presents - music, movie or e-book - that are purchased from iTunes then dispatched from one device to another using NFC pairing, MacRumors said in a report.
The file could be a fresh buy or an old one already sitting on the sender-device. Either way, the giver will be charged for his or her generosity, per the Apple gift-giving scheme that takes advantage of the emerging wireless technology.
"Either by purchasing the media directly from the iTunes Store and sending to another user's Apple ID or by sending a copy of already-owned media to another device, which is currently unavailable on all iOS devices," MacRumors said.
In the other patent, "Apple proposes a plug that incorporates flexible elastomers or thermoplastic elastomers," that will provide flexibility to a headphone mechanism that is inserted to a very-thin iOS smartphone, Apple Insider said in a report.
When pressure is applied to the same device, the mechanism's elasticity will bend with the force instead of going against it, thus preventing an accidental breakage, the patent filing said.
"With the elastomer parts in place, the plug can withstand substantial bending when under strain and return to its normal state when strain is removed," said the same Apple Insider report.
If indeed the new patent will evolve into a listening accessory that is exclusively designed for the iPhone 6, the form-factor of which is expected to be thinner and lighter from previous iPhone builds, then its actual embodiment is "a 2.5mm subminiature plug."
This earplug, Apple Insider said, is highly suitable for a device that obviously has a dimension far different from that of the iPhone 5S, hence the floating of the Apple phablet as the possible fit.
Analysts have been saying that the large-screen iPhone 6, likely at 4.7-inch, is set for a 2014 rollout, anytime within the first six months of the same year.