With Apple moving the entire Mac line-up to “Apple Silicon” — the collective name for system-on-chip (SoC) and system-in-package (SiP) processors designed by Apple using ARM architecture — we should be seeing some radically different new Macs. One could be a touchscreen iMac
Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,705,562) for “transitioning between modes of input” — that is, between a mouse/keyboard combo and a touch screen. The tech giant’s idea is that the all-in-one would have an accelerometer that could tell when it was moved to a horizontal position. At this point, it would enter touchscreen mode. Raise the screen back to the “traditional” iMac position, and it would enter keyboard/mouse/touchpad mode.
Here’s Apple’s summary of the invention: “Transitioning between a high-resolution input mode, such as a mouse-based interface, and a low-resolution input mode, such as a touch-based interface, is described. A change of orientation of a touch screen between a first orientation and a second orientation is detected. Transitioning between the two input modes and corresponding user interfaces (UIs) is based on the detected change of orientation.
“A change of orientation can be detected with one or more sensors, such as an accelerometer, position sensors, etc. Transitioning from one mode to another can include modifying an item displayed in the UI of the one mode into a corresponding item displayed in the UI of the other mode. The modifying can include enlarging/reducing, obscuring/unobscuring, moving, etc. For example, an item can be obscured by the visual effect of sliding it off of the screen.”
