Over the years we have seen some very interesting patents from PatentlyApple, but this latest one has to be one of the better ones. If Apple were to make use of this latest technology, then it could give us a good idea of the 2014 MacBook Pro, Air and iPhone design.
Apple’s patent application is for a flexible material that would allow for a seamless enclosure instead of a standard hinge for devices like the MacBook. PatentlyApple explains the revolutionary flex material in great detail, but what it could mean is that Apple could create a seamless enclosure allowing for a reduction in size of devices like their MacBooks.
The use of a plastic hinge takes up a lot of valuable space, but using this new process would do away with that and could even make the display area larger. It is not just the MacBook Pro and Air that could benefit, as a future iPhone could also make use of it, but how Apple would implement this is unknown for now.
Other products could also make use of this flexible material, such as headphone cables, the iPad Smart Cover, TVs and even games consoles. So does this mean Apple will keep the patent all to themselves, meaning they could release an Apple games console, or would they license it out?
Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves because we have seen time and again that Apple does no pursue certain patents, so could this be one of them?
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