Apple's newly obtained patent means that it can abandon the physical keyboard and integrate the touch function and wireless charging function of the iPhone and iPad into the MacBook.

Liam Tung is an Australian business technology journalist who lives a few miles north of Stockholm. He received a Bachelor of Economics and Arts (Cultural Studies) from Macquarie University in Sydney, but he was hacked (no Norwegian or malicious code) during his career as a corporate technology, security and telecommunications reporter at ZDNet Australia.

Can the physical keyboard of the MacBook be replaced by a second screen?

Apple has obtained the rights to a dual-monitor MacBook from the US Patent and Trademark Office. This may be an echo of the old battle with Microsoft Windows and Google's Chrome operating system, or it may be the future of laptops.

According to Patently Apple, the patent covers a dual-display laptop designed by Apple that replaces the keyboard with a virtual keyboard, which is no different from the keyboard on the iPad, but has a variety of possible layouts to support different use cases. For example, work and games.

It depicts a device with a biometric sensor, fingerprint sensor and wireless charger.

Although this is just a patent, it does not necessarily imply that Apple will make such a product, but it adds the touch function of iPhone and iPad, and even the possibility of expensive camera settings that support Face ID in iPhone 12 was brought to MacBook.

An interesting prospect is that the MacBook will become a wireless charger for other iOS-based devices (such as the iPhone and Apple Watch), which is also detailed in the granted patent.

Three years ago, Microsoft's hardware team made a rare move, exposing its Centaurus dual-screen prototype laptop in time at Apple's WWDC conference. 

At the same time, Apple is applying for a new patent for the dual-screen MacBook that switches the keyboard to a touch interface with soft buttons to avoid its catastrophic butterfly switch keyboard after 2015.

Three years later, Microsoft has abandoned Windows 10X-originally planned for dual-screen devices such as Surface Neo on the new chip-and is advancing Windows 11 for single-screen laptops, while Apple is switching from Intel chips to Macs To its own Arm-based chip.

In addition, Apple received two patents earlier this year, which detail a MacBook with a built-in reverse charging coil that can wirelessly charge iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. This will allow Apple customers to avoid carrying bulky wireless charging pads and reduce the number of cables required when traveling.

However, considering that the MacBook is currently made of aluminum and cannot be charged wirelessly, using the MacBook as a wireless charger may be a major engineering and product feat that needs to be overcome.

Google solved this problem by placing a plastic cutout on its original aluminum body to place the wireless coil.

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