Apple has been experimenting with the idea of flexible or rollable displays in wearables, as the fruit company filed a patent last year detailing curved wearables, but the curved wearable display may be an idea Apple is keeping close to the vest.
A new patent for rollable and foldable displays in wearables shows an Apple Watch with a circular display that then extends around the sides where the wristband would be. Instead of a wristband in place, though, Apple would have the entire Apple Watch serve as a display, showcasing information on the sides instead of just using the wrist area for a wristband.
We've seen Apple filed a patent for smart modular bands in the past that would allow you to connect and add more functionality to the Apple Watch (a heart rate monitor, for example, if you want one), so Apple is certainly trying to figure out what direction to go in. Samsung has already made the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ serve as all-screen smartphones with their Infinity Super AMOLED displays (as Samsung has named them), so perhaps Apple is jumping ahead (in a good way) to plan for a wraparound display Apple Watch.
Apple has been flirting with circular smartwatch design, in addition to extending the Apple Watch's capabilities to understand sign language and new motion gestures.
