MacBook: Apple is still working on an innovative model with touchscreen keyboard and trackpad
Apple seems ready to innovate on the laptop side, with the implementation of a keyboard and a touch trackpad on its MacBooks. After a first patent in 2018, a brand new one has just been published on this subject, proving that the project is still in the Apple firm's pipeline.
It must be said that this is an ambitious project, which must offer an infallible user experience to convince consumers. To simulate physical keys, Apple would have no choice but to rely on haptic feedback, which delivers a weak vibration with each press.
The patent dating from six years ago also specified a three-phase approach envisaged by Apple in order to offer a feeling as close as possible to the systems embedded on traditional computers.
The first is the use of a flexible screen that can deform when a key is pressed. The objective here is to offer a feeling of depth when typing. The second is haptic feedback, simulating the click of a physical keyboard, thus confirming the use of the key press.
The third would push the immersion even further with the use of an electrostatic charge to simulate the sensation of the edge of a key. The opportunity for the user to better position themselves on the keyboard, and de facto, to be more precise when typing text.
The new patent published in October 2024 does not provide new information. It simply shows that Apple remains focused on this evolution of the MacBook, which gives hope for its arrival in the years to come.
In the meantime, less ambitious, but just as important, plans are expected for the next MacBooks. In addition to the deployment M4 chips in October on the first computers, OLED screen technology should not be long in coming. MacBook Pros should also be the first to be served from 2026 according to the analysis firm Omdia.
