Last week, Apple Inc. received new patents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that alluded to exciting hardware features like wraparound touch displays and foldable panels.
The patents could be a hint as to what to expect from impending new goods; for almost two years, there have been whispers of a folding iPad. Or maybe Apple just loves to protect the ownership of even its most ridiculous ideas.
Yet, this does not mean that the people working in a fixed spaceship in California aren’t coming up with innovative new ideas. Apple isn’t often quick to adopt new technology.
Apple is continuously experimenting with unique ideas, some of which are just simply ridiculous, as evidenced by the innumerable patents submitted over the past ten years. In honor of those “see if it sticks” concepts, we’ve compiled a list of Apple’s most bizarre patent applications.
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iPhone Turned Mac
Apple has a software environment that is completely interwoven. Owning the entire line of Apple devices, including iPhones, iPads, Macs, etc., has real advantages. But when it comes to hardware, Apple is more unwilling than its rivals to muddy the waters between different product categories.
For instance, Apple insists that the iPad will continue to be a tablet even though it has the components required to function as both a laptop and a tablet. On the other hand, a detachable or convertible Mac is unlikely to ever be created. Well, most likely.
Image credit- Cult Of Mac We know Apple is at least considering the concept of developing a bizarre hybrid gadget that would essentially transform an iPhone into a laptop thanks to a patent submitted in 2017. Yes, you read that right—an iPhone.
When you put your iPhone into a slot where the trackpad would be, the hypothetical device, which is just a display with a battery, turns into a laptop. Processing, graphics, memory, and storage are all provided by the phone, which also powers the entire experience.
2. Self Adjusting Apple Watch Bands
Apple filed a patent in 2017 for a self-adjusting watchband that would automatically tighten or relax in accordance with biometric information the wrist gathers. Nitinol, an elastic metal alloy that can adapt and preserve its shape, could be used to create it. An internal ratcheting system or fluid/gas bladders are some alternative suggestions.
Image credit- MacRumors This strange Apple Watch patent is not the only one. The business also considered how to incorporate a camera into their wearable.
3. Concert Filming Deterrent
Today, if you go to a concert, your view will nearly always be obstructed by someone holding up their smartphone while ignoring what is happening in front of them. It turns out that Apple has a plan to stop that annoying behavior.
Apple received a patent in 2016 for a system that would stop iPhone users from filming concerts on their phones. It would instruct your phone to turn off recording by sending commands via infrared signals. This is one method of avoiding the temptation to record a memory on your smartphone, albeit it would also likely enrage a lot of people.
4. Car Without Windows
You might have come across this on the internet and assumed it was a prank made by a mock news outlet. I’m sorry, but it isn’t. Apple has really submitted a patent for an autonomous vehicle with cameras in place of windows.
“Autonomous vehicles may have limited or perhaps no windows, and hence the motions that passengers experience in such vehicles may not match what they are visually experiencing, potentially creating motion sickness,” the company writes in its patent.
Apple would utilize a VR system to “match virtual views that match visual cues with the physical motions that a passenger feels” in order to resolve this problem. The company argues that windows are fundamentally dangerous and that a VR system will not only be safer but also enable the production of smaller, less expensive automobiles with a larger interiors.
5. iPad Keyboard with Touch Bar Notch
Apple has filed a patent for a tablet accessory that would couple with an electromechanical keyboard and have a base part and coupling mechanism. Apple describes a number of variations on this detachable idea, all of which allow users to position the iPad in different ways.
Apple envisions one scenario where a “coupling mechanism,” or hinge, overlaps the tablet’s back panel and features a separate auxiliary display with a customized message, battery life information, the date and time, etc. Like a Touch Bar for the rear panel, if I may say so. That secondary screen overlays the primary one in a more unsettling variation.
