A new patent granted to apple describes an Apple Watch without the digital crown, that wheel on the side that has existed since the very first generation of the watch. Instead, an optical sensor would take care of controlling the watchOS interface by tracking the user’s finger. The patent gives two examples of gestures allowed by this new device: a lateral sliding on the sensor could replace the rotation of the crown, while the finger could also be detected by touching the surface, but also from a distance.
This last point could be interesting for reasons of accessibility, even if the primary objective of this idea patented by Apple is indeed to save space and eliminate a moving part. The space inside the Apple Watch is tight, even more than in an iPhone, and Apple cannot endlessly enlarge the size of the device to fit more elements. Removing the digital crown could be a good way to increase the available space, to increase the size of the battery or to add another more useful component.
Even if the crown rotates “in a vacuum” and even if it is a very reliable device, the fact remains that it is a moving part which could break. The patent emphasizes that a static optical sensor would be more reliable. One can also imagine that it would be cheaper to produce, but naturally, this is not mentioned in this patent. However, one option would be to add this sensor in addition to the digital crown and not in its place. Maybe he could find a place in the side button?
Like the current digital crown, this area would also be used to measure the blood rhythm, the ECG and even other elements, such as the level of oxygenation of the blood or an estimate of the amount of blood in the body. Finally, remember that a patent is not a reliable source of rumor, but only the sign that Apple has considered something. Maybe future watches will adopt such a sensor, maybe the idea will remain patent forever.
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