It is well known that technology is advancing very fast, therefore companies need to think years ahead when planning for the future in order to stay competitive. It is through thismethod that we can obtain information about the iPhone 16, a product that will be available in the future, in advance of its release. Even though patents aren’t guarantees that a product is being developed, they can give us a glimpse into what a company is thinking about, even if they don’t guarantee that a product is being developed. Finally, some plans have emerged regarding Apple’s plans for the release of smartwatches in the near future. It is for this reason that the company has seriously considered integrating a camera into the Apple Watch in the future. Here are the details of the event.
Apple sure has a lot of patents about adding a camera to the Apple Watch
There is a lot of information that can be discovered about a company’s future by looking at patent applications. Aproduct release can be understood if a new product will be released, or if a feature is going to be added to an already existing product. A patent application has been granted by Apple (US-11571048-B1) relating to an Apple Watch strap release mechanism that could possibly be used with a built-in camera in the future. In addition, we should note that the fact that the US technology giant has filed such a patent application does not mean that it will produce an Apple Watch with a camera in the near future. This is simply a sign that the company is taking some ideas into consideration and is considering them.
READ MORE: Photo Pro software will support Apple M1 and M2 platforms better with SigmaFP firmware update
In the patent, which was spotted for the first time by Patently Apple, there is a strap that is divided into two segments and a nesting section that enables the watch to be removed from the strap quickly and ergonomically. With the addition of the built-in camera, the Apple Watch will be able to be used in a wide range of new ways, including taking pictures with the camera built into the device. There is an illustration in the patent which illustrates a person holding the strapless watch in order to take a picture as well as a cross-section of an Apple Watch with a bottom-facing built-in camera and its field of vision. To take a picture, the user would simply pop out the watch, hold up the camera portion, and snap a picture.
In the past, Apple has filed patents related to camera-related features for the Apple Watch for a number of years. Another patent was granted to the company last year, simply titled “Watch with a camera.” This patent describes a camera that is placed within the digital crown, and has diagrams that are very similar to those in the recently granted patent. It was also announced in 2019 that Apple had received a patent for a rotatable camera built into a strap at the end of the strap. As an aside, it’s worth mentioning that there is already a third-party accessory that works in a similar manner to the Apple Watch called the Wristcam.
A camera on an Apple Watch could have a lot of potential uses. One of the key benefits of the Apple Watch is that it enables iPhone users to spend less time on their phones, and even leave it behind when running errands, going for a walk, or exercising. However, what happens when someone wants to take a picture of something they see while out and about? Without a phone, they wouldn’t have any evidence. A camera on the Apple Watch could solve this problem.However, it is too early to talk about all this.
