Judging by a recently filed patent by Apple, it appears that the company's future keyboards will feature physical
Patent 9,178,509 entitled Ultra low travelkeyboard, was issued to the company by the US Patent and Trademark Office this week. The document describes a keyboard without switches, instead of which pressure sensors are installed, similar to those in the Apple Watch display and the trackpad of the latest Apple MacBooks.
The keyboard will not look like one bigForce Touch-panel, instead, under each key will be installed several sensors tied to this key. The keys will be equipped with piezo actuators and pressure sensors for sensing the pressure force and tactile feedback on pressing.
“To determine the force of pressure on a particularkey, signals from these sensors are received by the keyboard controller and transmitted to the keyboard module for further processing, explains AppleInsider. “The click is processed, and the user receives tactile feedback in the form of a “click” or mechanical movement simulated by a built-in actuator.
Technology Not Only Will Let Apple Make Itkeyboards are even thinner, but they can also give the keys versatility. For example, by pressing the letter, you can type a letter, and with a deeper press, you can do some other action, for example, pause music, copy text or write a special character.
Naturally, not the fact that this patent will be completedbut the implementation of Force Touch support in keyboards would be a very logical step for Apple, because the company has been experimenting a lot with Force Touch (or 3D Touch) since the first appearance of this technology in Apple Watch this spring.
Considering that the last Apple keyboard, Magic Keyboard, was released recently, last month, most likely, we will see the Force Touch keyboard soon.
A source: AppleInsider