Apple is researching how to make an iPhone accessory that can be used to perform spectroscopy in the field, and inexpensively.
Detail from the patent showing a possible sample testing system
Detail from the patent showing a possible sample testing system
Think of how “Star Trek” tricorders also came in a medical version. Or just think how quickly episodes of “Quincy, M.E.” could have ended if Jack Klugman had been carrying an iPhone with an add-on sample analyzer.
That’s the idea at the heart of Apple’s newly-granted patent, “Systems and accessories for optical analysis of samples on portable electronic devices.” It’s about having a small accessory that biological samples can be placed on for testing, in part, by the iPhone.
If Apple’s research pans out, an iPhone could be a portable science lab
If Apple’s research pans out, an iPhone could be a portable science lab