Rumors that Apple wants to release Mac products that are made of glass isn’t new, but a new patent filing gives us new insight into how a MacBook Air made entirely from glass might work in practice.
According to a new report from Patently Apple, Apple won two new patents recently, including one for a glass housing for a future MacBook Air that could feature a virtual keyboard and touchpad. Reporting from 2023 revealed that it had patented a design for an iMac made of a sheet of glass as well. Apparently, Apple has been working on this dersign concept since at least 2011, and these new patents indicate that these aren’t just one-off ideas, but possibly part of a trend that might one day see production..
The patents feature an electronic device housing that provides I/O functionality, meaning that the “user interface forms part of the housing and the housing receives input and/or provides output for the device.” One or more surfaces of the housing are configured to accept or provide user input and output when the device and/or the surface(s) is actuated. The housing is, therefore, part of the system and not a separate mechanism.
Despite all the fancy tech going into this glass housing that should make it more fragile, the plan seems to be enclosing and protecting the internal components, while also looking pretty.
This recent development would work nicely with a previous patent that covers finger devices, which wouldc be “used with glass-top keyboards to soften the pressure on user’s fingers on a solid glass surface.”
A touch of luxury, or a disaster waiting to happen?
While the concept of a glass MacBook Air and iMac sounds downright luxurious, this is clearly an idea that would work better as a proof of concept than an actual product on the market.
The biggest and most obvious downside to any tech made of glass is the level of fragility involved. Maybe the glass iMac could work if it’s made with something similar to what’s used for windshields, as that would be genuinely difficult to break.
But the glass MacBook Air sounds like a recipe for disaster not only for people with kids and/or pets (imagine your two-year-old knocking it off a table), but also for adults with a variety of motor disabilities that might worry that they could inadvertently drop or otherwise damage such a fragile piece of tech.
It honestly sounds like a peak luxury product meant for the most affluent of Apple buyers, especially because there’s no way a product like this won’t be extremely expensive considering the advanced technology and quality of materials needed. And that’s not even counting over a decade of R&D costs that Apple would understandably like to make back. .
Still, at the end of the day, such devicestwould likely be catnip to Apple’s famously loyal fans, who would more than likely buy these computers no matter how expensive or impractical they might be in practice , something that Apple might well be counting on in the end.