Apple AirPods may soon see an upgrade that it has not witnessed before. The true wireless earbuds by the Cupertino based tech giant comes with a charging case like many other earbuds. A recent patent granted to the company by the US Patent & Trademark Office could lead it to make certain changes to the aforementioned AirPods case. As per the patent, the case may soon feature an interactive touchscreen display.
According to the patent, filed in September 2022, the AirPods charging case could include a touchscreen display on the front, similar to that of an Apple Watch. According to the patent description and images, the display would provide media controls as well as access to basic apps such as Maps, Weather, and notifications.
Users will additionally be able to switch between apps using Siri prompts, according to the patent. In one of the diagrams, the ability to use Handoff to transfer a song from AirPods to a HomePod is also depicted.
In some images seen in the patent filing, the case includes a touch-sensitive display. It may include a graphical user interface (GUI), one or more chipsets, memory, and one or more modules, programmes, or sets of commands saved in memory for operating numerous roles in some images. In other images cited, the user is seen interacting with the GUI using finger inputs and motions on the touch surface or with an Apple Pencil.
The patent demonstrates that the company may be investigating this concept internally. Although Apple files a large number of patents, only a small number of them see the light of the day. The idea of AirPods attempting to run a UI-based operating system with a touchscreen will be unique.
Apple launched the AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) in India in September 2022 and they are priced at Rs. 26,900. The earbuds are powered by an Apple H2 chip and offer Dolby Atmos and Personalised Spatial Audio with head tracking support.
