Folding devices with two screens have potential beyond just more display real estate. Apple is researching, at length, how to make the interfaces of folding iPhone, iPad, or all-screen MacBook Pro more than the sum of its parts.
A folding device could have two screens where the bottom one acts as a “soft keyboard”
A folding device could have two screens where the bottom one acts as a “soft keyboard”
It’s not as if it’s a surprise that Apple has been researching an iPhone Fold, or a folding iPad. And of course it has had foldable laptops from the PowerBook 100 to today’s MacBook Pro.
Yet this newly-granted patent, called “User Interfaces For Devices With Multiple Displays,” could even replace every one of those devices. Across 335 drawings and flowcharts, the patent ultimately describes a device that is made up of two screens, folded in the middle like a current MacBook Pro.
Originally appeared here:
Custom interfaces to get the most out of a folding iPhone or iPad are in the works