Although Apple didn’t announce any new devices at its WWDC 2018 conference, it would appear that the firm doesn’t intend to stop there; in fact, it has obtained a patent in the USA describing a device with two screens that can be hinged around a hinge.
Easier-to-read screens
Such a machine would therefore appear to be a laptop whose keyboard would be replaced by a touch screen. It wouldn’t be the first laptop to have its keyboard replaced by a screen, but the patent obtained by Apple mentions a solution enabling a user to view the screens while wearing vertical-polarity glasses, as well as a method for avoiding reflections of the image emitted by the first screen on the second.
Potential practical uses and limitations
Having two screens would offer Apple a number of advantages, enabling the firm to completely rethink the interaction between man and computer, which currently relies mainly on a keyboard and mouse. It could also make it possible to have a keyboard with a dynamic layout, either to adapt to different users or to reconfigure itself dynamically according to what the application in use is proposing. However, the use of two screens poses two major problems: virtual keyboards do not yet offer the same ease of use as a physical keyboard, and the presence of two screens will place new demands on batteries.
Use for smartphones?
While two large screens may pose a problem in terms of batteries, there’s nothing to suggest that Apple isn’t thinking of applying this patent to smartphones instead. This would indeed seem to be in line with the possibility of viewing the screen correctly with sunglasses. The presence of two screens articulated around a hinge but removable at the same time could indicate a desire to move towards hybrid devices that can be used as phones or tablets, but also as mini-computers.
