Mobile phones should include airbags, says Sony

Liquid cushion

By James Sherwood • Get more from this author

2nd July 2007 12:16 GMT

Although some claim airbags can actually be quite harmful in a crash, Sony clearly thinks they're the perfect thing to protect your other life-support machine: your mobile phone.

The electronics giant has applied to the US Patent and Trademark Office for a patent to take the airbag concept a stage further and develop a specialist water-tight chamber designed to protect a mobile phone's electronic innards in the event of an otherwise fatal drop.

According to Sony's patent application, the water-tight casing would surround the internal electronics of a mobile phone and then be placed within a second liquid-filled container, which would be perforated with holes.

Sony patent
Sony's airbag-for-phones concept

In the event of a drop, the inner bag would push against the liquid and squeeze it through the holes and out into an outer chamber, therefore reducing the force of the impact.