Apple Rumored To Replace Buttons and Keyboard on MacBook Series With Invisible Input Areas
According to new patents filed by Apple.
Apple continues to find ways to push the envelope of technogical development forward. Recent Apple has been rumored to be changing the aesthetic of its MacBook series due to a surfaced patent application from the tech giant.
According to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Apple’s newly-revealed application is for technology that utilizes a “concealable input region for an electronic device,” hinting at micro perforations to sense input, hinting at the possible removal of buttons and the keyboard for the MacBook. Apple claims that the granted patent would allow the company to remove “large buttons, keys, or other mechanically-actuated structures” used to sense inputs on a device. That’s because traditional input elements “may lack flexibility or adaptability and may permanently indicate the presence of the input device.”
The patent aids in the solution that would give the device’s exterior an array of micro perforations. When active, the virtual buttons and graphics would illuminate. The patent described the input regions to “be visually imperceptible when not illuminated.” The patent also alluded that when configured, the device would utilize touch sensitivity, optic and magnetic options to stimulate the tactile response of the button or the key. Apple is als slated to feature translucent layers made with “glass, ceramic, plastic, or a combination thereof,” meaning that it could mean the “top case of a laptop.” The patent appears to extend to the iPhone, Apple Pencil, Macbook and Apple Watch.
It remains to be seen how this will unfold.
Elsewhere in tech, TikTok is rolling out minigames ahead of its major gaming debut.
