A new patent granted to Apple Inc recent suggests the Apple's future iPad Pro models may feature a cover sporting a secondary display, an in-built keyboard as well as solar panels to help the device charge itself. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published the original patent in August 2012.
The upcoming iPad Pro's secondary display may possibly be used to display text notifications even when the device is closed. Alternatively, it could also be utilized as a drawing pad in combination with the Apple Pencil, the patent revealed.
The Cupertino-headquartered tech titan submitted the patent application titled "Apple Invents Mind Boggling Next Generation Smart Cover with Multi-Touch Flexible Display, Solar Panels & Built-in Keyboard" in August 2012.
What is more interesting is that the drawing pad of the future iPad Pro together with the built-in keyboard of the cover may probably be utilized in the form of a touchpad too. In other words, the next- gen iPad Pro may come with a setup officially sanctioned by Apple and which is comparable to the manner in which several laptops work currently.
Keeping in view that the highest end model of 12.9-inch iPad Pro with 256GV cellular connection comes with a price tag of $1,229, which is exactly in the range of Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 tablet/laptop hybrid costing $899-$1,799, the latest patent suggests that the Cupertino tech behemoth is aiming to find a niche somewhere between the laptop and tablet in the company's new device offerings.
As the covers would require power, the patent shows something recognizable at once as the Smart Connector ports that were first introduced with the 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models. However, there is a difference between patent drawing and actual product, in the way that the drawing reveals four connection points instead of three, 9to4 Mac reported.
Meanwhile, there are rumors that the Smart Connector ports may also be incorporated into the iPhone too. The Smart Connector ports enable the iPad Pro to connect to the Smart Keyboard accessory, but they may feature either in the ensuing iPhone 7 or the iPhone 8, which is expected in 2017.
However, this largely depends on whether Apple opts to get rid of the headphone jack port for a routing audio via the Lightning cable. The Smart Connector ports would enable the supporting wireless iPhone to charge, while users listen to the audio simultaneously.
Warch the review of the 9.7' version of the iPad Pro, considered by many to be the best ever from Apple, below: