A Modular Approach to iPhone Cases
Titled “Cases and folios for carrying and charging accessories” and “Cover for an electronic device”, the patents outline cases for “retaining a portable electronic device and an accessory”.
One of the included patent drawings depicts a protective phone case which may take advantage of several different solutions for storing and charging AirPods within it. The language Apple uses for the patent abstract suggests that its solution might work with many other accessories, as evidenced by the following excerpt from the filing:
A regular case may have a cavity approximately corresponding to the dimension of an accessory. A folio case might feature a raised section that’d run vertically across the front.
Integrated Screens and Batteries
Another drawing illustrates a case featuring a small integrated screen that would display useful status information, such as battery charge and incoming calls. This would let the user glance at the current battery charge and see their missed calls without having to open the case. It would be Apple’s version of Samsung’s Galaxy cases that offer similar functionality.
In one of the embodiments, the Cupertino technology giant outlines an iPhone case featuring a slotted compartment for storing money and credit cards. Apple with the iPhone 12 family provides a somewhat similar solution in form of its MagSafe technology.
This lets accessories with built-in magnets, like Apple’s Leather Wallet, snap into place on the iPhone’s back. The patents suggest that MagSafe could be leveraged to realize a design which might permit the AirPods to be attached and charged on the back of a case.
“Oftentimes end users only find out their electronic accessory is out of power when they use the accessory,” Apple writes. “But they might not carry a charger with them.” In a way, the proposed solutions seem similar to how you can currently charge your Apple Pencil stylus by magnetically attaching it to the top of your iPad Pro.
NFC Smarts and Multi-Touch Keyboards
These patented solutions also imagine case variants with and without integrated batteries. A case with an integrated battery would be able to wirelessly charge the accessory within it. In that scenario, a case’s integrated battery could recharge itself through the iPhone or iPad within it. The company suggests using the Near-Field Communication (NFC) protocol for wireless communication between the case itself and the device in it.
The patents are very detailed and go on to imagine a bunch of different types of iPhone cases that could both store and charge accessories, ranging from a folio, a wallet, a flap, or a cover to an enclosure, a holster, a clip, a sleeve, an armband, and beyond. Apple also imagines a wraparound iPad Smart Cases of sorts that could be opened up into a stand and integrate a keyboard that swaps regular key for a Multi-Touch keyboard.
You would type on such a thing by “striking the smooth surface above a particular key,” Apple explains in the patent description. Alternatively, you could use sliding gestures for swipe-based typing on a Multi-Touch keyboard.
Expanding the MagSafe Ecosystem
Apple currently offers MagSafe-based iPhone cases, sleeves, folios, wallets, and wireless chargers. All of them use magnets built into both the phone itself and the accessory. The solution allows a MagSafe accessory to quickly snap into place without adding bulk.
Although many Apple patents never see the light of day, the scope of the two granted patents give us reasons to believe that the Cupertino company wants to bolster MagSafe accessories with new solutions. And this is important because Apple’s accessories carry a premium, and you wouldn’t want to invest in that ecosystem if it wasn’t here to stay.
