Broken or cracked displays are not uncommon with touchscreen smartphones. However, Motorola has already filed a patent to create self-healing displays for its upcoming smartphones.

Moving away from the traditional ways of protecting the smartphone display, Motorola is now contemplating ways to repair your smartphone display instead of using toughened glass or ShatterShield technology like in Moto Z2 Force. Unlike the glass you commonly see on the smartphones, these self-healing displays are made of "shape memory polymer" that can reconstruct itself when subjected to heat.

Motorola's self-healing display tech
These self-healing displays from Motorola could use your body heat for repairsMotorola

Self-healing displays: Here's how it works

The thermal elements (fascia) integrated within the glass coating of the smartphone screen will absorb ambient heat to heal cracks on the surface of the display. It is quite possible that a day might come when the smartphone's display could heal itself (while you are still working on the device) by using your body heat.

Motorola's self-healing display tech
Motorola

According to The Verge, whenever heat is applied to the cracked surface of the display, the shape memory polymer will repair at least the portion of the fascia that's deformed in order to make it reusable.

In other words, you may not be able to restore the broken display to its original state, but the damage could be fixed to make the display fully-functional. The report adds that the self-healing material will be compatible with both LCD and LED displays that use capacitive touch sensors.