Could future Apple Watches ditch the rectangular form factor of current models and opt instead for a round watch design, similar to the Pebble Time Round?
A pair of patent applications filed today suggest this is something Apple is considering. Titled “Electronic device having display with curved edges,” the twin applications make no secret about what they contain.
The question is whether Apple will follow through with them.
Photo: Apple/USPTO
Apple Watch Round?
Apple’s two patents detail, in high-level terms, some of the technical considerations Apple would need to deal with if it ditched the rectangular display for a rounded one. It’s full of engrossing patent-speak details like:
“The array of pixels may have a shape such as a circular shape or other shape with a curved edge. Display driver circuitry may supply data signals to the pixels using folded vertical data lines and bisected horizontal gate lines. Each folded vertical lines may have a first segment in a left half of the array and a second segment in a right half of the display.
Curved coupling segments in an inactive area of the display may be used in joining the first and second segments. Display driver circuits may be provided in top and bottom portions of the inactive area to supply data to respective top and bottom portions of the array. Gate driver output buffers may have different strengths in different rows of the array.”
The bigger question, of course, is whether this is something Apple would actually proceed with. As anyone who has followed Apple patents for some time will know, things are often not what they seem.
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For every patent that becomes a real thing, there are a plethora of eye-catching (iCatching?) ones that seem to exist simply to troll anyone trying to follow in Apple’s footsteps. Remember the hidden joystick concealed beneath your Home button? Exactly.
While only a handful of people know all the details of future Apple Watch plans, it’s good to see the company experiment with different form factors. This is nothing unusual, though. Even more established product lines like the iPhone see myriad prototypes each year, exploring different shapes, materials and screen sizes to work out what users are most likely to go for.
Would you like to see a rounded Apple Watch? Leave your comments below.
Via: Apple Insider
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
5 responses to “Someday you might get that round Apple Watch you crave”
It’s very simple…I’ll buy a round watch in a second, and I won’t be caught dead with an iPod shuffle strapped to my wrist. Pretty clear Apple?
It’s been one year since I finally resigned from my office job and i couldn’t be happier now… I started freelancing from home, over a website I discovered on-line, several hours every day, and I make much more than i did on my last work… Check i got for last month was for 9000 bucks… Awesome thing about it is the more time i got for my family… CHILP.IT/13548ef
Had an Apple Watch. Sold it after a few months. If they come out with a round one I’ll buy again. Until then I simply won’t.
The Apple watch design was reportedly inspired by the renowned Cartier Santos. Both clever and classy which describe Jony Ivy’s aesthetic in my opinion. To produce a round face is like Bergdorf reacting to walmart.
The current square design is the perfect shape for smartwatch (otherwise I would get round dummy watch). Apps looks better and easier to design in square than round. I hope Apple does not fall into troll trap.