Apple has been busy with their patents of late, today’s news relates to the future of the iPhone, iPad and iPod. It details a different type of screen technology that would partially replace their Retina display with an e-link/LCD display similar the Amazon Kindle e-reader. This ‘smart screen’ would actually utilize both Retina and E-ink depending on what was on the screen at that particular time, sounds interesting but why would Apple want this?
Although e-ink is rubbish for graphics, gaming and photography it still has very strong credentials. Namely its much easier on the eyes meaning users can read text for longer without getting headaches. It also eradicates sunlight glare so users can read their favourite books on the beach or outdoors without detriment to screen quality. Obviously the Retina display speaks for itself and Apple would want to use that whenever they could, so how could the two technologies be combined?
According to the patent the two technologies would switch automatically depending on what is being displayed or the light conditions. What’s even more impressive is that the screen would be split into quadrants with each one displaying different tech, so if a page like this one was displayed the text area would use e-ink and the images would use retina. The whole system would also adapt to light, direct line presumably switching the glaring part of the screen to e-ink. It’s all very clever and futuristic stuff.
As you know patents are filed all the time and sadly it doesn’t mean they will ever see the light of day. It’s unlikely that this tech will feature on the Apple iPhone 5 or iPad 3, but this is Apple after all and nothing should be discounted.
Earlier in the week we wrote about a new patent that would allow Apple to add a smart bezel to their future iPhone and iPad’s, this could mean the removal of buttons with gesture controls taking their place.
Does a hybrid screen sound interesting to you and what would it mean for traditional e-readers?
Via: Mac Rumours
