A new patent application filed by Apple suggests that the company is planning for an ambitious design for an all-in-one computer that integrates display as well as keyboard into a single curved glass sheet.
The patent was filed in May last year and showcased how a device similar to the iMac has the “input area” as well as “display area” built into a single surface. It seems like there is a support structure at the back of the display, which should contain CPU.
Apple has clarified that the glass housing could be made with materials that are transparent, coated, painted, or otherwise treated to produce a non-transparent component. Translucent components may be formed by producing a textured or frosted surface on an otherwise transparent material.
This is quite interesting, first of all from the design point-of-view that Apple is trying to implement the whole hardware on a curved sheet of glass, which the company has not done so far with any of its products.
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Another interesting take on this is that the company is taking the all-in-one computer design to another level with the integration of computer, display, keyboard, as well as touchpad. However, it seems that the keyboard can be detached so that it can be used as per the users’ need.
While Apple has filed a patent for this new device, we don’t see the company planning to launch such as device in the market anytime soon and certainly not with this radical design, which the company is calling “Electronic Device with Glass Housing Member”.
However, we do expect the company to make some changes in the design of the iMac given that it has largely remained unchanged over the past decade. This hints that the designers at Apple are looking for ways to shake-up the design of the iMac.
