New Apple patent describes push button iPhone antenna
6:31 am, December 30th, 2009, John Brownlee
We’ve all learned to live with the iPhone’s woeful reception, but with more and more phones following Apple’s lead and circumcising any and all protuberant nubs from their streamlined smartphones, it’s easy to forget that the iPhone’s reception issues could be fixed with a protruding antenna.
Apple’s own thinking seems to be leaning towards the re-integration of an external antenna into future versions of the iPhone or iPod Touch. According to a patent recently granted to Apple by the US Patent and Trademark Office, Apple may be considering adding a push button style antenna to future devices, in order to ensure “high-quality wireless transmission and reception.”
Don’t worry: we’re not looking at a slide-out set of bunny ears. The antenna design is elegant: the iPhone would retain its streamlined design until the antenna was called for, at which point it would pop out a tiny little antenna nub. If your reception is good enough, you just push it back in.
However, as Patently Apple notes, the most interesting patent detail is that it may utilize a coaxial cable. That implies the ability to pipe in cable television.
Personally, I doubt we’ll see this patent in action any time soon: elegant or not, a pop-out antenna strikes me as too much of a kludge for Apple to take seriously. Still, the prospect of a cable ready iPhone or Apple Tablet is too tantalizing not to report.
Posted by John Brownlee in News, iPhone | Comment on this article
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An external antenna just seems like an eye sore no matter how sleek they make the design. I like the way it is now and feel an antenna would just add to the annoyances of the device. The ability for the iPhone to connect with cable television sounds AMAZING, but doubtful. Maybe in a few years but def. Not in today’s market.
AT.T, on December 30th, 2009 at 6:36 am
An optional antenna would be a welcomed addition to ANY phone. The coax connection is NOT for cable, but for external antenna (think car kit or deskphone dock) and for technicians to use for testing.
Garrick Boyd, on December 30th, 2009 at 7:44 am
I find the iPhone’s reception to be better than any phone I’ve owned. I live in Vancouver, Canada. It may have more to do with the network use than the phone itself.
Conrad, on December 30th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Other phones are not “following Apple’s lead” by dropping the visible antenna: internal antennas are 10 years older than apple. When the iPhone arrived, already 99% of phones had an internal antenna.
Well, maybe it’s different in america, but in the rest of the civilized world, anyway…
Rigmi, on December 31st, 2009 at 3:45 am