Seven years ago, Apple removed the backlit Apple logo from its MacBook line. Available since 1999, when the company released the PowerBook G3, this was one of the most iconic design choices introduced by Apple. After all these years of a polished metal logo, it seems the company could be readying to reintroduce the backlit Apple logo with new technology.
The information comes from Patently Apple, which discovered that Apple was granted a new patent for a backlit logo that uses a different methodology. This rumor is more credible because three of the engineers listed on this patent joined Apple in 2018, a few years after the company dropped the backlit logo from MacBook models.
This patent was filed by Apple in May 2022 and published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week (via MacRumors). Here’s how the company describes this possible future technology:
The rear of the hosing may be provided with a logo. The logo or other structures in the device may be provided with a backlit partially reflective mirror. The mirror may provide the logo or other structure with a shiny appearance while blocking interior components from view.
(…) The logo may have any suitable shape such as the shape of a recognizable corporate trademark, etc. In an illustrative configuration, the logo may have two or more disjoint portions such as portions 22-1 and 22-2 that are configured, respectively to form an apple shae and an apple leaf shape for the two-part trademarked apple logo associated with products of Apple Inc., of Cupertino, Calif.
While we still have to wait to discover whether Apple will bring back the backlit logo to MacBook models, it could make sense a few years from now, as the company recently revamped the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lineups with a new design, a MagSafe port, and even a notch on the top of the display.
BGR will keep reporting as we hear about this possible change to the MacBook lineup.
