While it’s not likely that smartphones with curved displays will ever have the same level of popularity as phablets, they’re still becoming fairly popular thanks almost entirely to Samsung and its Edge smartphones. Not wanting to be left out, it looks like Apple is interested in releasing its own curved-display smartphone in the near future, as a recently awarded patent for the company describes “an advanced glass wraparound display design.” It’s important to note that this is just a patent, which means we may very well never see such an iPhone, but if we do, it probably won’t be until the iPhone 8 is released in 2018. 

Samsung might be the only company to have a gorgeous flagship phone with a curved display right now, but that might not be the case in the future. The company’s main rival is also interested in such designs, as Apple has received a new patent that proves a curved iPhone may be closer than we think. Sure, not all the technology Apple patents makes its way into the company’s products. But this isn’t the first time Apple has been rumored to be working on iPhones with curved wraparound displays. Most recently, a report claimed that South Korean display makers are already presenting such screen solutions to Apple for future iPhone use, and the company appears to be interested. A curved iPhone may arrive in 2018 according to the report, the year when Apple will launch its iPhone 8 series of phones. According to Patently Apple, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published on Tuesday 28 patents that were granted to Apple. The patent-dedicated tech blog highlighted some of these patents, describing “an advanced glass wraparound display design” for the iPhone, a new password entry user interface based on gestures instead of alpha-numeric or biometrics alone and a new design for an Apple Watch.