If your current iPhone is folding or bending, you are probably in trouble. Fortunately, Apple seems to be working on developing its own foldable phone that is intended to bend like Samsung's latest ultra-expensive handset.

At least, that's the rumor we're hearing. On Tuesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple a patent for a "foldable cover and display for electronic devices." The patent below shows a tri-fold design not unlike the one Samsung has already patented, which can be seen in the rendering above from LetsGoDigital.

Upon closer inspection, the device has layers, because the patent calls for a "flexible display layer; and a cover layer coupled to the flexible display layer" with "a foldable portion configured to move between different configurations." Item 5 of the claims states that "the foldable portion of the cover layer comprises glass."

For durability, "the foldable portion of the chemically reinforced cover layer comprises glass or glass-ceramic" to prevent Apple from making its own controversial foldable.

As someone who has reviewed the iPad and marveled at the new Galaxy Z Fold, the following patented technology makes me wonder about a 3-screen iDevice that could replace all my Apple gadgets. The patent does not list dimensions, but when the device is unfolded and flattened, it looks closer to Apple's iPad Air and iPad mini.

A foldable iPhone would bend at two points, as if the Galaxy Fold or Galaxy Z Fold had two joints instead of one. Two diagrams from the patent show the device in two positions: one with two folds, the other folded into two segments, one longer than the other.

But let us remember, of course, that this may not happen. Patent wars between firms are an ongoing way in which these mega-titans gamble on the future or try to prevent their rivals from creating anything.