Apple files ‘bold’ patent
Apple was granted a patent on 21 June that depicts their flagship laptop, the MacBook's deck, into a flexible input surface and/or a wireless charging pad for an iPhone.
Sifting through the patent reveals that Apple is considering using transparent, dielectric materials like plastic, glass, and ceramic material to mould an unbroken touch-sensitive input surface.
The patent goes on to further allege that this surface can be used to 'improve the look and feel of the device without having the drawbacks of some traditional device constructions.'
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Macbooks have been infamously panned in recent years for having some of the worst keyboards on the market. In true Apple fashion their tentative solution is to approximate the widely hated touch bar for their entire keyboard.
The tech giant is known for 'bold' moves like getting rid of headphone jacks and charging a thousand dollars for a computer stand but this could be a step too far.
A lot of people use Macbooks as their primary work stations and getting rid of a tactile keyboard entirely could be a death-knell for the Macbook line of products.
Apple keeps filing for patents on a regular basis and something similar to this even popped up in 2018, hopefully this idea gets repurposed into other products rather than hobbling one of Apple's most lucrative products.
