With onscreen keyboards becoming a feature that many of us are used to by now, the question is will computer makers start adapting this design into laptops? After all being able to eliminate physical keys will help make laptops even thinner than ever. While we’ve yet to really see that happen, Apple might have an idea.
According to a recently discovered patent by Patently Apple, it seems that the Cupertino company has considered creating a “keyless” keyboard. While we suppose such a keyboard would look extremely sleek, how will people touch-type if they can’t feel the keys? Based on the patent, it seems that Apple is planning on using haptic feedback to achieve that.
This is actually not the first time that Apple has relied on haptic feedback as the company has used similar technology with the trackpad in its MacBook laptops, where they no longer depress but give the impression that they do due to haptic feedback. However the patent goes one step further by actually providing haptic feedback based on where the user is pressing, meaning that the whole keyboard won’t just vibrate but will vibrate at specific regions to give the illusion of users pressing a key.
We’re not sure if such a system would be better than a regular keyboard, but like we said a keyless keyboard would no doubt create a more sleek design in laptops. However since this is a patent, there’s really no telling if Apple ever plans on making it a reality.