You may no longer have to touch your iPhone as the new patent has suggested the device will pack hover gesture controls.

The patent was filed a few years ago and is finally awarded to Apple by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This feature could make its debut in iPhone 6 and will give the iOS a way to match or even beat the Samsung Galaxy S5.

The patent described a touchscreen that can sense and differentiate between an actual physical touch of the screen and a hover of a finger. This could open up a new user experience where gesture controls can be used to activate commands without the need of a physical touch.

Although this is not exactly a new and ground-breaking feature, a similar technology was introduced on Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3. Hovering works in Samsung devices giving a preview or additional content is the same with hovering over links and images on a PC with a mouse. An actual tap of the touchscreen would select a command.

However, the latest Apple patent described a more intelligent feature as it can differentiate a press from a hover. This will give a better experience than on the Galaxy S4 as there are times that the phone cannot detect between a tap and a hover. It is speculated that if Apple plans to go for this technology, it will innovate it as the company has a good track record in implementing new technologies.

Aside from gesture controls, other patents hinted on other possible features that will make the cut for iPhone 6. Apple was awarded with patents for curved, flexible screen display with Liquidmetal and refocusable light camera. Another patent spotted describing an improved Siri that can be used in searching and tagging photos.

Other rumored iPhone 6 features are a larger screen size ranging between 4.8 and 6 inches and some features of the current iPhone 5S will most likely be retained such as 64-bit A7 processor, M7 graphics chip and fingerprint sensor. However, Apple has not confirmed any of these rumors yet.

The same goes for the iPhone 6 release date as previous reports claimed iPhone 6 release date will occur in the first quarter of 2014 by March. Other sources and analysts claimed the next Apple smartphone will come in mid-2014 around May to July. There were also reports saying the next iPhone will wait for a full year and will be launched in October 2014.