Whenever a new iPhone or as a matter of fact, any new smartphone is made available to the public, one of the first things that we get to see on the internet are videos of those phones being dropped from various heights and their screens being smashed, mostly for the uploader to rack up a high viewer count. But the uploaders of such ‘entertainment’ videos will need to find other content for their videos since this trend might end soon. It is known that many smartphone manufacturing companies like Samsung and Apple have worked in the past to reduce the damage to device screens in case it is dropped on a hard surface, however, these efforts have not been successful yet. Even today, when your smartphones are basically supercomputers from a decade ago, dropping your phone can cause a very unappealing crack.
However recently the US patent and trademark association have published a new patent application which contains a patent by Apple which shows how screens of their devices will be protected in case they fall. According to this patent, there will be various tabs at various points of the Apple iPhone screen. These tabs will mainly be placed around the four corner positions of the screen and near the edges.
These tabs will be hidden in normal day use and would only come into ‘action’ when the unfortunate device is falling. 
Whether the tabs have to be activated or not will be deduced by the sensors installed in the phone.
Basically, when the phone falls and the screen is facing a hard surface, the sensors will predict this motion and then send a signal to the tabs. This patent will definitely increase the durability of the iPhone and provide a sense of relief to the people who drop their phones all the time.
The tabs will consequently emerge from their place and provide a pseudo-barrier that stops the screen from coming in contact with the surface and providing cushion hence converting a potentially ugly crack to a minor bruise.
However, don’t wait up, since the Cupertino-based company has a habit of registering a patent and never following through with the actual product for a very long duration. However this is, undoubtedly a commendable step in the right direction for phone’s physical safety and it must be appreciated.