Apple started selling its brand new official Lightning connector dock earlier this year. While it turned out to be a bit less fragile in reality than it looks on first glance, we can’t help but wish Apple had released the Lightning dock shown in a newly-published patent today.
Designed for durability, Apple’s concept connect features a movable Lightning connector that is able to rock back and forth, thereby absorbing what Apple calls “undesirable forces … reducing a likelihood of the connector breaking from misuse.”
It’s such an elegant solution we can’t help wonder — why didn’t Apple use it?
Photo: Apple/USPTO
The dock concept would also be useful if you’re using the dock for viewing in addition to charging, since it would allow users to angle their iPhone or iPad to suit their needs.
Since Apple filed the idea back in late 2012, there’s no reason why it couldn’t have shipped with this year’s Lightning dock — unless, of course, Jony Ive’s team (which most assuredly would’ve prototyped something like this) found that it didn’t work quite so well in practice as it does in theory.
Source: USPTO
Via: Patently Apple
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.
