Apple's 'microslot antennas' could embed antennas into iPhone's casing

An interesting patent has been uncovered that shows Apple is working on a way for integrating a device's antenna directly into the body of the device. The patent "Microslot antennas for electronic devices" was first discovered by AppleInsider and granted to Apple on Tuesday.

The patent describes a technique that allows WiFi and cellular antennas to be made only microns wide. Best of all, because the antennas are so narrow (in addition to being invisible to the naked eye) they eliminate extra space needed outside the device to fit current antennas and inside the device to support their connectors. This means potentially slimmer devices with no breaks or openings in the device's body to allow for signals to reach an internal antenna. In the image above you can see how large current antennas and their housing devices are.

The new "microslot antennas" would be capable of supporting all cellular bands, as well as WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth and more. And though the patent references their use in laptops, the obvious choice for the technology would be small, mobile devices like the iPhone. Like all mobile computing, even if a few internal millimeters can be freed up, that could mean a slimmer, sleeker device.