Apple famously ditched the physical keyboard when it revolutionized the smartphone market, and the company's long-term goal appears to be to do the same for laptops.
A string of patents has revealed Apple's work on a full-screen MacBook with a virtual trackpad and keyboard, and a new continuation patent published yesterday shows the project is still alive …
Software vs. Hardware Buttons and Keys
When the iPhone launched in 2007, Steve Jobs said that the big advantage of the on-screen keyboard was that the buttons could change depending on what a particular app needed, and Apple could add or remove buttons on an existing device with a software update.
The iPhone launched with a software keyboard, and so did the iPad.
Of course, things have changed since then. Apple created the Magic Keyboard for the iPad, recognizing that while soft keyboards are fine for occasional use, heavy typing requires a physical keyboard for both comfort and productivity.
The company has abandoned its one stab at a soft keyboard on the MacBook in the form of the Touch Bar.
Apple has even added more physical buttons to the iPhone, first in the form of an action button and now a camera control button.
Haptics as a Substitute for Moving Keys
For many, a hard keyboard is a hard requirement for a MacBook, but Apple continues to believe that it can mimic the feel of a physical keyboard with clever haptics.
Sure, we’ve seen moves in that direction, too. The trackpad on the latest MacBooks doesn’t actually click — the sensation is created entirely by haptic motors — but it feels incredibly convincing.
Keyboards, however, are more complicated. Our fingers need to feel the keys before we press them, and the keys also cushion the impact, making typing much more comfortable than on a glass keyboard.
Apple’s Patents for All-Glass MacBooks
The company’s attempts to replicate the comfort and feel of a physical keyboard in an all-glass MacBook go back years. In 2018, for example, we saw a three-pronged approach.
First, allowing the flexible screen to deformwhen pressing a virtual key for convenience. “When pressed, the user's finger may form an indentation on the keyboard surface beneath the finger. The pixel capacitive touch layer may detect the depth and/or location of the indentation to determine both the magnitude and location of the force.”
Second, haptic feedback will be used to simulate the pressing of a real key. “Haptic actuators can create a physical sensation similar to or representative of a mechanical key.”
Third, an electrostatic charge can also be used to simulate the feel of the edge of a key so that it feels like a real keyboard when you place your fingers on it ready to type. “An electrostatic charge can cause an actual or apparent change in the friction or roughness of a surface between an object (such as a user's finger) and an input surface due to the electrostatic attraction of the user's finger to the surface”
There have been a number of Apple patents with further work in this area, and today's continuation patent (discovered by Patently Apple) builds on that work.
Today's document doesn't reveal anything new, but it does suggest that this is a very much a viable project for the company, even if actually achieving the end goal may still be many years away.
Could you ever imagine Apple succeeding in creating a MacBook with a virtual keyboard that looks and feels like the real thing, and is even suitable for touch typing? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Image: Apple
