TechAudioHeadphonesEarbudsApple AirPods new patented design suddenly looks much more appealingApple thinks a touchscreen case could solve some of the problems with controlling wireless audioWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechAudioHeadphonesEarbudsApple AirPods new patented design suddenly looks much more appealingApple thinks a touchscreen case could solve some of the problems with controlling wireless audioWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Apple thinks a touchscreen case could solve some of the problems with controlling wireless audio
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Apple)
(Image credit: Apple)
How do you make yourbest true wireless earbudseven better? If you’reApple, you put a touchscreen display on the charging case. Or at least, that’s the idea Apple has been exploring in a newly unearthedAirPodspatent with the catchy title “Devices, Methods and Graphical User Interface Interactions with a Headphones Case”.
According to the patent, “There is a need for a headphone case device that can control operations that are traditionally associated with headphones (e.g., playback controls, changing audio sources, changing audio output modes, etc.).”
The case wouldn’t replace the existing touch controls on yourAirPods Pro 2, or send Siri packing. Rather, the touchscreen would “complement conventional methods for controlling wireless headphones”. It’s all about simplicity: Apple reckons that adding a touchscreen would help streamline and speed up some common tasks.
What would a touchscreen AirPods case actually do?
Apple describes several different scenarios, but the most likely is something akin to the interface you get when you’re playing Apple Music on youriPhone: track information and artwork, transport and volume controls, and icons for things such as adding the currently playing song to your Favorites. If that sounds rather like the much-missediPod, that’s probably deliberate – and I think it sounds rather charming too.
But Apple isn’t just looking to the past here. One suggestion in the patent is that you might squeeze the charging case to change the noise cancelling mode of yourAirPods; another is that you might use the touchscreen as a notification and control area for key iPhone apps such as Messages, Weather and Maps.
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