Apple has filed for a patent (number 20220046226) for a “method and device for operating a lenticular display.” It hints at future Macs, and perhaps even Apple-branded television sets, with such screens.
For years Apple was rumored to be working its own Apple television set. That never happened, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t at some point in the future.
About the patent filing
A lenticular lens is an array of lenses, designed so that when viewed from slightly different angles, different parts of the image underneath are shown. In other words, they can display different content at different angles. The most common example is the lenses used in lenticular printing, where the technology is used to give an illusion of depth, or to make images that appear to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles.
Apple could use such tech to allow users to view 3D content on Mac screens and other displays. However, the tech giant points out that there are issues with such issues that must be solved before lenticular Macs are available.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing with the technical details: “In one implementation, a method of operating a lenticular display is performed by a device including a processor, non-transitory memory, an image sensor, and a lenticular display. The method includes displaying, via the lenticular display, first content at a horizontal angle of a first user and second content, different than the first content, at a horizontal angle of a second user. The method further includes displaying, via the lenticular display, the first content at a second horizontal angle of the first user and the second content at a second horizontal angle of the second user.”
