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Apple’s idea for a futuristic, curved iMac is not at all what you’d expect

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Curved screens have become commonplace in monitors these days, but this wild iMac concept takes the curve in a completely different direction.

Apple just received approval for a series of patents for potential iMac products that reveal a new vision for the future of the iMac, including a screen that curves along the bottom instead of the sides as shown in a concept rendering by Yanko Design (below).

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This concept has an all-glass body and an integrated keyboard. As opposed to the iMac we have today, where the display and the stand are distinct components, the patent envisions the machine with an all-glass housing consisting of a continuous surface. The illustrations reveal a seamlessly flowing shape defined by the upper portion, lower portion, and the portion where it transitions.
In early 2020, Apple applied for a patent for a modular iMac with a curved glass display. Today, the patent has been granted.

There is another variant shown in the patents that reveals more or less the same shape in general, but instead of acting as an iMac, the company plans on making it function as a display where a MacBook could dock. Patents reveal that this design would also be foldable, which means it would feature the option to be stowed away for easy portability. This imagines a future where people would be able to take a large MacBook display with them anywhere they go.

However, we must remind ourselves that all we know at the moment is from patents that have been released. Patents are not confirmation that a product is necessarily launching. In 2021, there have been Apple patents for a MacBook with no keyboard, an Apple Watch that tracks people’s hydration levels, and an iPhone that functions by blowing on it. Needless to say, we haven’t seen any of these products come to life yet.

Even if the recently approved patents come to life, it’s important to mention that they most probably aren’t going to be released anytime soon. Apple redesigned the 24-inch iMac just a few months ago. Considering that its last design was in circulation for 14 years, chances are that the current design will be here for a while.

Dua Rashid
Dua Rashid
Former Computing Writer
Dua is a media studies graduate student at The New School. She has been hooked on technology since she was a kid and used to…
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