Apple has filed patents that may indicate what consumers can expect a future iPhone will look like. the patent is described as a "consumer electronic product" display, and features a wrap-around design.
The design would feature a electronic body that is rounder than standard smartphones today, with no flat surfaces to to speak of, besides the top and bottom. The device would feature an open-ended body, which would likely be a transparent glass or plastic. Then, a flexible AMOLED screen could be fitted onto the device. This screen would come with a "detection mechanism" that would allow the device to sense how much of the screen is within view of the user, using a camera and face recognition software. This will allow battery life to be extended, as the device will only have to power a certain percentage of the screen, rather than the whole of the surface.
This certainly would be a departure from the iPhone 5, or any other smartphone available on the market today. Such technology could very well be the future of phone technology, as the device would allow users to use either side of the phone at their convenience.
With the iPhone 6 still in the rumor stages, there is no way of knowing this is what Apple intends for the device to look like. Apple may be patenting the technology so that, in the future, it can incorporate the ideas into new produces, or so that they are able to claim ownership of the idea should something similar come out. Apple has given no indication on when and what we can expect from the iPhone 6, so this is pretty much pure speculation at this point.
Seen at: Ubergizmo