Apple has reportedly been granted a patent for dual displays that can potentially allow a future MacBook or iPad to use the second screen in place of a keyboard. Apple will use the second screen as a dynamic keyboard where the keyboard characters can be changed to bring some other input method or just a plain emoji keyboard. The patent outlines that Apple will use an OLED display hinged to the primary display that can be detached, much like the detachable keyboards on iPads and Surface notebooks.
According to the patent that Apple filed on US Patent and Trademark Office, the second OLED display can be seen in two mechanisms – one with fixed, permanent hinged display and another with a detachable display. In addition to this, illustrations found in the patent show that there could be two display types – OLED and LCD – for both the mechanisms. Moreover, the secondary display is not intended to be an ‘accessory’ that can be used to allow two iPads or MacBook to be paired together. “The US Patent and Trademark Office has granted the tech giant a patent titled ‘dual display equipment with enhanced visibility and suppressed reflections’,” said a report by Apple Insider.
Apple could make the use of the secondary display more like an extension to the Touch Bar seen on MacBook Pro launched last year. The report further added that the implementation of the secondary display would offer easy access to multi-language keyboard layouts, contextual controls such as a Send option while working on an email client, and a large canvas area where Apple Pencil could be used to draw and scribble. While there could be a lot more than just the aforementioned functionalities, the typing experience on a mechanical keyboard will be compromised.
The patent also describes use of polarisers to help minimise reflections from the two screens onto each other, which could be a clever solution to the problem should the Cupertino-headquartered company actually look to build this as a real device, the report said. Apple is yet to comment on the development and it is not quite certain if it will bring this technology to future iPads and MacBooks. Nonetheless, Apple in the past has shown how such complicated design elements can be implemented on the devices in real world and it won’t be a surprise if this secondary display tech makes it way through.