Today, Apple won the patent for the use of technology that will allow them to create a round-faced Apple Watch. This design will essentially be a round-faced Apple Watch with a circular display. This new technology will allow the Apple Watch to look like a normal watch on your wrist. The patent text references to one application in a form of a wristwatch specifically.
It was challenging for Apple to create an Apple Watch with a circular display with the technology they currently have. Because of this, we have not seen an Apple Watch with a circular display. However, now that Apple have acquired this new technology, we could be seeing an Apple Watch with a circular display in the next few years.
“Pixel arrays often have rectangular shapes. However, rectangular pixel arrays will not fit efficiently within a device having a circular shape. Circular displays can have bottleneck regions in which signal lines become crowded, leading to inefficient use of display area. It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved displays such as circular displays or other displays with curved edges.”
If you are interested to read the rest of the information the patent gives, here’s the link:
The patent information is too long and goes into detailed specifics. Feel free to read if you are interested in the patent.
Possible in the Future?
Apple has been known for patenting a device or technology for a device and never actually releasing it. Could this mean that a circular faced Apple Watch will never see the day? It is possible. However:
“Considering that Apple filed for this patent 8 months after the original Apple Watch debuted with its rectangular interface and likely years after the original Apple Watch patents for a watch, Apple’s management gave their engineers this project to work on. So this isn’t a rejected design after the fact, it’s a purposeful engineered solution to make a round interface work for Apple Watch should Apple ever decide to bring this to market.”
This could clear things up a bit and bring some positivity to the situation. However, we do not know for a fact if a Circular-Faced Apple Watch will be released. And if it is released, we won’t see one until possibly 2020. We can speculate all we want, but after all only the insiders at Apple truly know the truth.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them down below!
Author: Holden Satterwhite
Founder of Appleosophy and Redfruit Media. Twitter: @hesatter
