A new patent awarded to Apple today suggests that the company’s audio plans for future iPhones may go beyond reportedly ditching the 3.5mm headphone socket in favor of Lightning and Bluetooth. The patent is very densely-worded, but seemingly describes a method of getting higher-quality and higher-volume audio from speakers built into slimmer devices.
Apple’s statement of the problem is clear enough.
The language describing Apple’s proposed solution is less clear, but from a combination of this and the accompanying diagrams, I at least have a working theory of what is being suggested …
Given the area constraints imposed on many portable electronic devices, it is increasingly difficult to provide high-quality audio sound output and pickup without hindering the ability to make portable electronic devices smaller and thinner. Consequently, there is a need for improved approaches to provide high-quality audio sound output and/or pickup from portable electronic devices as they get smaller and thinner.
Rather than just using the volume of air you can push through the speakers themselves, Apple appears to be proposing to allow more of the internal space of the device to act as an audio chamber.
Effectively, turning other components of the iPhone – like a circuit board – into part of the speaker. This would allow a greater volume of air to be pushed, increasing the sound volume achievable from internal speakers, as well as potentially increasing the quality of the audio. The patent describes using the same technique to improve the microphone(s).
Photo: TechnoBezz
