By: Nick Gambino
Apple has filed a patent with images of an AirPods case that sports a touchscreen display on it. Does this mean we will see future AirPods cases with screens on them? Not necessarily, but it does mean Apple is at least considering it.
The patent filing as spotted by Patently Apple was submitted to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office on September 19, 2022 but was just made public in the last couple weeks.
The idea is that the screen on the case would allow you to do more than just switch between songs and check battery life. It would be a souped-up display much like the Apple Watch. The case would carry its own array of apps including Weather, Notifications and even Maps. You would be able to activate Siri and have her carry out all kinds of commands.
It looks like the patent also covers a series of swipes and gestures that would enact different commands like hearting a song.
According to the patent, Apple is also considering adding a squeezing feature to the AirPods case. One image shows a user squeezing the case in order to switch between audio modes while watching a movie.
There are a ton of images in the patent that you can peruse to get an idea of all the things Apple is considering doing to the AirPods case. Some of it gets pretty technical and is beyond my understanding but maybe some of you more tech savvy people out there can figure it out.
AirPods have come a long way since they were first introduced a handful of years ago. We’ve seen the arrival of the AirPods Pro, wireless charging cases and a slew of advanced features to satiate the intense popularity of the wireless headphones.
If Apple does decide to move forward with the screen version of the AirPods case I hope they’ve considered a way to avoid constant scratching or fear of cracking the screen. As of now we can be more careless about our cases without concern of doing much damage. This would change that and make the case more of a delicate iPod.
What do you think of the possibility of a new AirPods case with a touchscreen display? Let us know in the comments below!
