Is Apple Redesigning MacBook Devices With New ‘Bendable’ Hinge System?

A recently published patent reveals Apple's plans in creating a MacBook with a new hinge system that's both bendable and capable of giving the entire device a seamless look, unlike today's laptops.

A new patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reveals Apple's design for a MacBook device that uses a “Planar Hinge Assembly.” This hinge is different from the usual hinge found on any MacBook model, as well as other non-Apple laptops in the market.

The hinge assembly described in the patent allows a “personal computing device” to have a single-piece body, unlike current MacBooks. This hinge will allow such devices to have a “seamless overall appearance” without any gaps between the upper part of the laptop which houses the display and the bottom part which houses the input devices such as keyboards and trackpads.

As indicated in the patent, the “single piece body” will include two parts, joined by a specially-designed hinge at the middle. The first part will be “capable of carrying a display suitable for presenting visual content. The second part, on the other hand, “is capable of carrying an input device suitable for accepting an input action.”

The patent describes the hinge as having a “multi-state bending assembly” characterized by several bendable layers, all of which allow for folding and unfolding the device. The bending action is hidden inside the assembly and is not visible from the outside; the result of this is a hinge that connects the first and second parts of the device seamlessly, as if made from one material.

The special hinge will also provide space for the necessary “mechanical communication” between the first and second parts. That said, it will house all the connectors and wires needed for the display and keyboard to work together.

The patent offers lengthy explanations as to how the hinge and the bendable layers inside it will work, as well as explanations as to how the hinge will be able to stay in a fixed position (i.e. with the display part standing while working) and not fall flat.

This isn't the first patent describing Apple's plans to create new hinges for the MacBook. A previous patent also showed a MacBook's chassis as being made from a single rigid material, connected by “Interlocking Flexible Segments” as the hinge.