CRACKE iPHONE SCREENS COULD BE A THING OF THE PAST WITH CATLIKE NEW TECHNOLOGY

iPHONE

An ingenious new Apple invention might one day curb cracked iPhone screens — by flipping phones mid-air so as not to damage fragile components.

The freshly patented “protective mechanism” senses when an iPhone is falling and uses a tiny motor to help it land like a cat. It measures speed of descent and time of impact to help the phone position itself while falling — much like cats do.

A combination of gyroscopes and GPS is employed to shield sensitive parts of the phone from certain disaster.

Apple has not yet announced specific plans to include the technology in its devices, but fans hope it is soon.

“I was pretty upset when mine shattered and now I’m always worried,” said LuLu Healey, 15. “I don’t even have a case on it.”

Apple engineers Nicholas King and Fletcher Rothkopf invented the mechanism, according to the patent, which was filed in September 2011 and granted last Tuesday.

“Mobile electronic devices are being used more often and more . . . However, people may drop their mobile electronic devices, or the mobile electronic devices may otherwise may be caused to enter a free-fall state,” Apple notes in the patent.

Careless New Yorkers cheered the innovation.

“I just upgraded my son to an iPhone 6 — and he dropped it before he got a case on it!” Anne Rice, a 55-year-old professor, said at the Lincoln Center Apple store, where iPhone screen repairs cost up to $129. “I think that’s great! I’m ­always dropping mine.”

The idea is genius, added Benjamin Schwartz, 43, because nearly everyone has damaged a smartphone.

“I was talking to a guy at my work and I just dropped it in the lobby,” Schwartz said. “It sucked!”

But, he added, “This is pretty cool! I would intentionally drop my iPhone all the time just to see it flip!”