Apple is said to be working on a new feature that will be introduced for the MacBook Pro. Recent patents suggest that the new laptop keyboard will use light as sensors for key positioning and user input.
This is not the first time Apple has tried to use lasers to predict the next keystroke. In the summer of 2019 the Cupertino-based company filed a patent that was labeled as ‘Optical Keyboard‘, one that utilized light to replace the electrical connections for registering key presses.
Apple’s R&D team have been working to update the patent, which may be the next replacement for the butterfly mechanism used in current MacBook Pro keyboards. This move could be a defensive patent as well, to which we’ll just have to assume a ‘wait and see’ approach.
The newer MacBook Pro and MacBook Air is expected to have scissor-switch keyboards. If the light-powered keyboard should appear it’s expected to show up before the summer season of 2021.
