The US Patent Office just approved Apple an iPad cover concept which we doubt will ever see the light, but it is extremely intriguing. It consists of interconnected segments to form a triangular grid and with articulated pins that allow the structure to take on very different shapes. It’s a little reminiscent of Geomag if you’ve ever played it. It’s easy to speculate that Apple is exploiting the same principle here (magnetism), albeit in a slightly more refined way.
The versatility implications of such a cover are easily imaginable: the iPad could be held securely and comfortably at any angle and orientation, with a little imagination. But Apple has even more advanced ambitions: somehow it speculates that the accessory could also recharge the tablet, thanks to the electricity accumulated in the structure itself. Therefore a sort of hybrid between case, charging base, and … Power bank?
As you can imagine, many concrete technical details are missing about the precise capabilities of the product – charging capacity and speed, for example – but at this stage, we can safely say that it matters little. Patents, as we know, are a barely vague indicator of what a company has in mind, especially a large one like Apple. This idea will likely stay in the drawer forever, or it will appear heavily revisited in some time, or it will become something completely different.
Of course, we can’t even rule out that one of the upcoming Apple events will announce exactly the object we see pictured above; but let’s put it this way, it seems like one of the least probable hypotheses. We’ve seen some crazy accessory ideas over the years, but so far the Apple has stayed pretty much on the classic.
