Future Apple devices such as iPhones, iPads, and Macs may have flexible speakers as hinted by a newly granted patent (number US 12108200 B2).
About the patent
The patent relates generally to speakers and specifically to speakers with flexible components for use in consumer electronics. In the patent Apple notes that consumer electronics are designed in a variety of shapes and sizes with versatility becoming increasingly important in an ever-connected environment.
Speakers are typically included with consumer electronics such as head-mounted displays, headphones, smart phones, smart watches, laptops, or other wearable devices. Apple says that packaging such speakers can be difficult and is driven by the size, shape, and audio capabilities of both the speaker and the electronic device within which the speaker is integrated. Flexible speakers could help overcome such limitations.
Summary of the patent
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent: “A speaker includes a housing having walls that define a cavity and a diaphragm covering the cavity and configured to vibrate under application of a magnetic field. The vibration produces sound waves. The walls are configured to deform under bending stress. The speaker is configured produce the sound waves both in an undeformed state and in a deformed state.
“Another speaker includes a flexible layer, a sensor configured to detect a curvature of the flexible layer, and a transducer disposed on and configured to vibrate the flexible layer. The vibrations of the flexible layer generate sound waves and output generated by the transducer is based on the curvature of the flexible layer.”
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Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
