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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1277879
"Foldable" phones and computers have become a popular concept, although difficult in practice, and this could be Apple's option for giving iPads foldable functionality without actually creating a folding screen. Or maybe it really could function like a big digital book, ideal for reading interactive children's stories, magazines, or graphic novels. 1. Using One iPad as a Keyboard Another option shown is using one iPad – or potentially an iPhone – as your primary display, and the second iPad as a digital keyboard for typing. This option is stranger, but it would allow users to avoid using an attachable keyboard and instead just putting another iPad down on the table and linking up, providing more screen space by shifting the digital keyboard down to the lower screen. While the patent shows two equal- sized devices in its example, this seems like an option best suited for people who are carrying around both an iPad and an iPhone, but find a need to do some serious typing on their iPhone conversations. Not as interesting, but we're willing to be convinced. If you check out the patent images, they all focus on a hinge-like device that seems made to connect two iPads firmly together in a variety of configurations. If this little idea sees the light of day (probably not this fall), then this hinge would likely be the primary investment, while iOS and hardware updates would take care of the rest (other verbiage indicates that proximity sensors could also link the screen in some cases). That means that getting the hinge/stand could allow you to use your iPads in any of the configurations we mentioned, depending on what you are working on. That makes this patent much more feasible as a marketable idea, and we like the focus on a single, enabling device. Apple just has to decide which ports its iPads are going to use, since currently smaller iPads are stuck with the Lightning connector, while iPad Pros use USB-C.