Apple has filed for a patent (number 20190361542) for a “portable computer with dynamic display interface” that shows a Mac laptop with a touchscreen — or at least more touch features.
The tech giant has repeatedly said it has not plans to release a Mac with a touchscreen. The closest the company has come is the controversial Touch Bar (which I personally like) on many of its laptops.
In the patent filing, Apple notes that some traditional trackpads are limited to a trackpad area generally located between the user’s hands when positioned in a typing position. Most traditional trackpads are also visually static in appearance and tactile feel. Apple is considering a laptop with a touch-sensitive cover and a display that produces a dynamic graphical output and may extend over the palm rest region of a keyboard.
Here’s the summary of the patent: “A laptop computer includes a display portion comprising a primary display and a base portion coupled to the display portion. The base portion includes a keyboard and a light-transmissive cover defining a first touch-sensitive input region along a first side of the keyboard and a second touch-sensitive input region along a second side of the keyboard. The base portion also includes a first display under the first touch-sensitive input region and a second display under the second touch-sensitive input region.”
Apple files for, and is granted, lots of patents. Many of them never see the light of day as finished products.
