Curved glass on a smartphone is not a new feature as the Google Nexus S manufactured by Samsung sported a curved glass display. Now, per reports, Apple has won a patent for creating curved glass displays for devices as small as an iPhone and as large as a Thunderbolt display.

Apple won a patent dubbed "Glass alignment for high temperature processes," which notes that traditional "dropout" and "vacuum" processes for slumping or shaping glass over a concave mold during heating process bring a number of issues.

Apple claims that the traditional methods add unnecessary complexity, cost, time, and labor to the glass shaping processes. As such, Apple has patented a method that will allow the company to produce higher quality, thinner concave glass more safely and cost effectively.

"Apple credits Donald Ross, Adam Stagnaro, Matthew Theobald, Andrew Davidson and Michael Pilliod as the inventors of granted patent which was originally filed in Q1, 2009 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Apple's patent presents 19 patent claims," reported Patently Apple.

The patent may be an indication that Apple may deploy a curved glass in some of its future devices. The devices could be iPhones, iPads, iPods etc. but when and which devices will get a curved glass remains to be seen in the future.

Apple's most popular devices are the iPhone and iPads. The rumors of the iPhone 6, iPad 5, and the second-generation iPad mini have already started to surface. It will be interesting to see if any of these devices get a curved screen thanks to the recently granted patent.