Possible Apple Watch-Like Digital Crown For IPhone And IPad As Apple Gains Patents For It

Today Apple has filed a patent application which shows a ‘rotary input’ device on an iPad (via Patently Apple).

While the Digital Crown makes perfect sense on something as small as the Apple Watch, it wouldn’t make much sense on a device such as an iPad or iPhone. Though, depending on the placement it can become useful.

The patent says that the crown would be used to adjust the volume, resize text, with the same push-button functionality to allow users to unlock/lock their devices or take a photo.

However, adding some sort of crown to the device would allow Apple to potentially get rid of the home button and size down bezels. The only caveat would be that Apple would need to add another button to the device.

The patent application also hints at a possible bezel-free device.

In some examples, the device may not have a border region and may instead have a surface composed only of touch screen.

As per usual, take these patents with a grain of salt as a patent does not necessarily equate to an actual product.