Apple is committed to developing new technologies. Recently, the company announced that its Mac computers will use its self-developed processors. Now, Apple has brought even more exciting news. According to patent documents, Apple is working on developing a new ultra-thin touch sensor technology.
This morning, we received an Apple patent certified by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patent was filed by Apple Inc. on December 12, 2019, and was approved on June 25. This innovative technology, named ‘ultra-thin touch sensor’, will be used to manufacture ultra-thin devices.
According to the patent, the touchscreen adopts an ultra-thin stacked structure, which not only reduces the construction of the display layers but also brings additional advantages. The patent mentions that reducing the screen thickness enables a slimmer device design, further improves the optical imaging performance of the display by shortening the distance between the display layer and the cover glass, and also reduces the device’s weight.
Another way to reduce the number of screen stack layers or border area is to remove the flexible circuit connections from the stacked structure, thereby routing the touch electrodes to the touch circuitry. In some cases, the touchscreen stack structure can have a shielding layer between the touch sensor panel and the display.
With this technology, Apple may be able to design even thinner products, such as the iPhone 6 series. In the future, we are likely to see this technology in the iPhone, iPad, or Mac series. However, the iPhone series released this year did not use any related technology.