According to a recent patent, future iMacs could be built out of a single sheet of glass and could be able to project its display onto nearby surfaces.
According to a patent granted to Apple, the company may be working on iMacs made out of a single sheet of glass that could extend display space by projecting the display onto nearby surfaces. If that sounds like a major iMac upgrade straight out of science fiction, well, it kind of is, so we wouldn’t necessarily bank on this kind of iMac hitting store shelves anytime soon. Nonetheless, the tech behind this idea is certainly intriguing.
Via the patent’s documentation, an iMac is shown projecting its display onto the wall behind it, and apparently, “In some arrangements, the electronic device may be provided with projecting displays that help enhance the area used for providing a user with visual output.” The patent goes on to say, “The rear housing wall may have a glass portion or another transparent structure through which image sensors and other optical sensors receive light.”
This suggests that the back of future iMacs would be made of glass as well, making the entire computer, effectively, a sheet of glass with some hardware inside. Naturally, all of this is speculation, and this particular patent doesn’t exactly reveal what Apple’s future plans are and merely the basic idea behind a concept Apple has, at one point, considered.
Either way, an iMac that could project its display or one made out of a single sheet of glass is an awesome concept. While tech companies routinely patent tech that never actually gets made, new products that seem too good to be true do sometimes come out, so make sure to keep an eye out for an iMac like the one described in this patent in the coming years.
