Microsoft · Cell phone · Filed May 1, 2026 · USPTO published Nov 12, 2026 · This week's release

Microsoft Patents a Phone Screen That Hides Its Antenna in the Glass

Microsoft's filing describes carving a shallow pocket into the back of a phone's screen glass and sliding an antenna array inside, while the top of the screen stays perfectly flat.

By Patentlyze Team · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · 3 min read

Built-in antennas line the rim of a device frame to send and receive wireless signals without taking up internal space. Drawing from patent filing US 2026/0360990 A1. — Built-in antennas line the rim of a device frame to send and receive wireless signals without taking up internal space.All 6 drawings ↓

Publication number: US 2026/0360990 A1(US20260360990A1)
Applicant: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
Filed · Published: May 1, 2026 · Nov 12, 2026
Inventors: Charbel KHAWAND, Apoorva SHARMA, Andrew James HILLENIUS
Status when we published: Waiting for an examiner
Document: 20 claims
US classification: 343/702
Parent application: Division of 18/198,655 (filed May 17, 2023)(18198655)

What Microsoft's thinned-glass antenna idea does

Phones today make room for antennas by shrinking them, sharing them between features, or skipping fancy ones like mmWave and ultra-wideband altogether. Microsoft's patent describes a way around that trade-off: carve a shallow step into the underside of the screen glass and tuck the antennas into it.

The glass stays flat and smooth on top, so you never see or feel a difference. Underneath, the glass is thinned to make a pocket for the antenna layer. The filing gives one example of 0.4 millimeters of glass over the antenna and 1.2 millimeters everywhere else. A cosmetic finish, like a black mask, can hide the spot from view.

The payoff is room for a larger antenna array, the type that can steer a radio beam without moving, while the screen keeps its strength.

From the filing · CLAIM 1

… forming a thinned region formed in the bottom surface of the glass structure; and positioning an antenna layer at the bottom surface of the display panel such that the antenna layer is at least partially embedded in the thinned region.

Translation: Workers shave down part of the phone glass so an antenna can fit inside it.

How the antenna sits in a step cut into glass

The claims cover a manufacturing method. Start with a display panel whose glass has a flat outer surface. Form a thinned region in the bottom surface, the side you never see. Then place an antenna layer against the underside so it sits at least partly inside that thinned region.

The filing's example makes the numbers concrete: glass 0.4 mm thick where the antenna sits and 1.2 mm thick elsewhere. One claim sets the thinned area at less than 0.5 mm. The antennas can form an ultra-wideband phased array (a group of small antennas that steers a radio beam electronically, with nothing physically moving).

Several add-ons help the antennas perform:

Backfill: an epoxy or liquid adhesive fills in around the antenna and holds it steady.
Air gap: a foam ring or spacer (a "keepout") stops epoxy from flowing over the part that radiates, leaving a gap of about 0.1 mm. Epoxy soaks up some signal and varies from batch to batch.
Low-loss material: instead of air, the gap can hold vacuum, ceramic, plastic or foam with a loss tangent (a measure of how much signal gets absorbed) under about 0.004.

The filing also describes a removable cutout piece that holds the antenna during assembly, and rounded edges of about half a millimeter to keep the glass from cracking.

From the filing · THE ABSTRACT

The thinned region has a thickness that is less than half of the thickness of the first region. The first antenna is embedded in the thinned region.

Translation: The carved-out pocket is less than half as thick as the rest of the glass.

What this means for phones with radar-style antennas

If you have ever wondered why phones skip features or carry modest antennas, the filing points to the reason: space inside the device is tight. It says phone makers typically shrink antennas, share them across technologies, or leave out mmWave and ultra-wideband entirely. Putting the array in the screen glass itself offers another place to put one, and in some examples the filing says such an array could work as a 3-D spatial radar.

For you, that could mean better short-range wireless features without a thicker phone or a weaker screen, since the thinned glass is meant to keep its strength. The filing describes smartphones and tablets and names no Microsoft product, so treat this as a manufacturing idea for now.

Microsoft's third cell phone patent we've tracked since May follows one on tuning device vibrations and one on 3D point cloud compression.

Editorial take

Claim 1 is short and wide. It covers a way of building a screen: start with glass that has a flat top, form a thinned area in the underside, and set an antenna layer at least partly inside that area.

Look at what it leaves out. It sets no thickness, no antenna type and no adhesive, and it does not even say the screen belongs to a phone. Those details arrive in later claims, such as the under 0.5 millimeter limit, the ultra-wideband array and the air gap around the radiating part. An opening claim this open would cover a lot of ground for anyone building screens this way.

It is a method claim, so it speaks to how the screen gets made. Wide wording like this can get trimmed during review, so a final version could end up looking closer to the narrower claims further down.

Source: US 2026/0360990 A1 at the USPTO (PDF). Full patent text and figures are in the official publication.

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The drawings · 6 sheets

6 drawing sheets from US 2026/0360990 A1 · click any drawing to enlarge

How an antenna layer fits beneath a thinned screen, drawing sheet 1 from US 2026/0360990 A1 — Sheet 1 How an antenna layer fits beneath a thinned screen

Internal layers connecting the screen antenna to the phone, drawing sheet 2 from US 2026/0360990 A1 — Sheet 2 Internal layers connecting the screen antenna to the phone

Three antenna parts mounted inside the phone frame, drawing sheet 3 from US 2026/0360990 A1 — Sheet 3 Three antenna parts mounted inside the phone frame

Slanted glass edges that keep the screen from cracking, drawing sheet 4 from US 2026/0360990 A1 — Sheet 4 Slanted glass edges that keep the screen from cracking

Steps for powering and transmitting through the screen antenna, drawing sheet 5 from US 2026/0360990 A1 — Sheet 5 Steps for powering and transmitting through the screen antenna

Basic computer parts that control wireless communication, drawing sheet 6 from US 2026/0360990 A1 — Sheet 6 Basic computer parts that control wireless communication

The drawings · 6 sheets

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