It's always fun to keep an eye on Apple's various patents, which can give us an idea of the innovative ideas the company might have up its sleeve. The latest filings suggest some pretty major features could soon be hitting the MacBook range, including an in-built iPhone charger. But perhaps the most exciting concept is a huge, resizable trackpad.
One of Apple's successful patents shows a trackpad taking up the entire area beneath the keyboard (below). This could be minimised or expanded to the user's liking with gestures, and display the active area by illuminating it. The MacBook Pro is already a mainstay of our best laptops for graphic design – and a much larger trackpad would certainly keep it there.
An image from Apple's latest patent filing (Image credit: USPTO)
This could be a game-changer for digital artists, offering far more space for drawing and sketching, and potentially turning the bottom of the MacBook into a graphics tablet of sorts. If that's the case, perhaps we'll even see Apple Pencil support for the MacBook one day. We can but dream.
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As well as being a huge boost for artists, the moveable trackpad could offer more convenience when it comes to multitasking, allowing you to slide the trackpad to the left or right, leaving more room for the other hand to type.
A second filing spotted by Patently Apple (Image credit: Apple/Patently Apple)
Speaking of convenience, another recent patent (above) spotted by Patently Apple shows plans for a wireless charging pad to be built in to the machine. If anything, it'll be nice to have one less wire to worry about. That filing also includes Touch ID built into the body of the laptop, as well as wrist sensors which could detect body temperature – something which could actually be pretty useful in the age of coronavirus.
As with all patents, only time will tell whether these ideas will become a reality. We've recently seen plans for a bendable laptop hinge and an Apple Pencil with a built-in display. Thankfully, incredible laptops aren't a thing of the future – check out today's best MacBook deals below.
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Daniel John is Design Editor at Creative Bloq. He reports on the worlds of design, branding and lifestyle tech, and has covered several industry events including Milan Design Week, OFFF Barcelona and Adobe Max in Los Angeles.
