Ok people, you know the drill. Standard disclaimer here: patents may give us some preliminary details about a future product but companies — especially Apple — will patent anything and everything so don’t be too surprised if much of this patent never materializes. The biggest takeaway is likely the simple fact that Apple is indeed working on an iPhone nano in some capacity, as we’ve expected for quite a while now. That said, a reported patent unearthed this morning may shed some light on Apple’s preliminary designs where the elusive iPhone nano is concerned. According to the details revealed in the patent, Apple may in fact be considering a device that puts a new spin on touch interfaces by moving the touch surface to the back of the device. The front of the handset would be comprised entirely of a display and the back would be a “force-sensitive touch based surface”. Sounds… Interesting. The concept of controls on the rear of a device is nothing new but it has yet to reach the market in any significant way because, well, it’s counter-intuitive. Unless this design manifests itself with a front-facing touchscreen as well (for typing, etc) the safe bet is on this iteration of the iPhone nano never leaving Apple’s lab. Hit the jump for more images.
Thanks, Jerome!
[Via MobileSyrup]
