Apple Mulls Over An iPod-Type Gadget That Charges Your AirPods Too
Photo 140232302 © Ilia Burdun | Dreamstime.com
The iPod is one of those things you look back fondly to and wish were still around. Well, if a newly-published patent filing is anything to go by, you can be hopeful that Apple will introduce something like it in the future.
The Cupertino tech giant has registered a patent for a design that TechCrunch likens to a tiny “iPod Touch or iPod Nano,” but with the core ability of charging wireless earbuds. You guessed it; it’s a smarter AirPods case with a digital interface.
The device is imagined with an interactive touchscreen that lets you play, pause, and favorite music, as well as adjust volume controls—much like the iPods of old. Along those lines, it could also play movies and audio books, and hold Siri support.
The case itself is envisioned to have some haptic functionalities, as Apple says you could squeeze it to switch between audio modes.
Apple further illustrates that this “graphical user interface for interactions with a headphone case” could display iPhone notifications and let you check the weather. Other apps that could be built into this gadget include an alarm clock, dictionary, maps, and calculator—the last of which is worth noting because the iPad doesn’t even have that.
The company outlines that there’s a gap in the market for a headphone case device that lets users control settings “traditionally associated with headphones,” like playback controls; and an even wider one for such gadgets that “also convey information to a user, through haptics and/or display devices.” It justifies that the added access can create “a more efficient human-machine interface.”
This pocket-sized device sounds a lot like JBL’s earbud case that was launched earlier this year. The latter features a 1.45-inch LED touchscreen display, with the ability to play and pause songs, activate noise-canceling and ambient sound modes, and show phone and social media notifications.
Though, it’s too early to know if Apple will develop its own interactive wireless earbud charging case, since the design has only been expressed in paperwork. Tech companies often file patents for protection, and many of those products never see the light of day.
[via TechCrunch and CNET, images via various sources]
