Apple patented a self protection system for electronic devices and has lot of reference made to iPhone in the patent. The system that has been patented aims at totally or partly protecting the device that falls freely on to the ground using a combination of mechanisms. The basic fundamental mechanism is to first detect the free fall motion of a device, the angle in which the device is falling, possible location of impact and the reorient the device in a way to let the strongest part hit the ground thus minimising the damage on the device. The overall mechanism seems to be a bit too fancy and might not be seen in action anytime soon but it is a novel and achievable mechanism.
Apple’s patent says that sensors like accelerometer, GPS, altimeter and image sensor will be used to detect the free fall state of a device, as all these sensors are connected to the processor it will be able to immediately process the information and set the state of the device to free falling state after which a multitude of protection mechanisms can be kicked in. Apple discussed mechanisms where the device will have the capability to hold on the plug in the 3.5 mm audio jack or the data cable so that the device will remain hanging to the cable rather than coming off of it and hit the ground. In other mechanism Apple discusses an option of having rotors or air pistons inside the device that will trigger on free fall motion of the device and reorient it in a way that impact and damage is minimised.
Another novel and effective method Apple discusses is to protrude minor casing around the device that will take the impact pressure when the device falls down and then retract the casing back into the device later on, also Apple talks of a mechanism that retracts exposed parts like buttons back into the phone when a free fall is detected.