- The patent describes the AirPods case as a wireless audio transmitter
- Touch screen with finger and apple pencil input
- Sound mixing options
As the famous slogan said, Apple likes to think different – and its most different thought tends to appear in patents, like this new for the Ultimate Airpods case, spotted by Plemly Apple.
Apple has filed interesting airpods patents for centuries, and as Apple clearly notes, it has tabled a design with a touch screen in 2023. And now there is a newly published patent application that goes much further.
What is in the last Apple Airpods patent?
The newly published patent describes the AirPods housing as a center for portable audio devices, with a large square touch screen at the front. This screen is illustrated with a four icon grid, a game screen now and a photo wallpaper. But it’s the next image that is really interesting, because there is a platinum.
In the images provided in the application, the AirPods housing is displayed connected via a cable to a hub, then diffusing the audio from the housing to the AirPods. It is also shown by accepting handwriting or an Apple pencil entrance on the touch screen.
There is more: the patent also describes two cases which are used or pushed together in order to initiate audio sharing or synchronization. And it details the use of several audio sources playing simultaneously in a set of headphones, and being able to use the AirPods housing to adjust the relative volumes of each input, which looks like a really cool addition.
We have already seen a game: for example, Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 headphones can have their case connected to wired audio sources to transmit to headphones, and do it in adaptive quality Aptx. And we have seen headphones such as LIG 3 LG make the case of the touch screen.
But what is presented in Apple’s patent seems to be more elegant, which is of course general Apple, and even more ambitious in some respects.
The bad news is that after decades of observation of apple patents, I know from experience that what is in a patent is not always found in the Apple Store, and if we rarely happen as soon as we want: Personally, I always wait for the MacBook with a touch screen that always seems to be in a few years.
Although none of the technologies described in this patent is particularly bizarre or there, I still cannot expect it all in the AirPods Pro 3 – but I think it is a fairly good indication of the place where Apple sees at least some AirPods in the future not too distant.
