Apple considered fitting a camera in the Apple Watch's wristband
If the Apple Watch ever does get a camera, it might end up in the wristband.
Apple has indeed mulled ways to add a camera into the wearable, according to a U.S. patent filing that was granted today. The company has come up with a novel solution: It involves placing the camera module inside the product's flexible wristband, giving you the freedom to aim the lens.
The patent filing contains examples of the concept, which integrates the optical sensor on the end of the wristband. As you wear the Apple Watch, you would use your other hand to hold up the camera module and take photos by pinching an adjacent button. Any images you captured would appear on the watch's main display, which would act as the viewfinder.
To take photos with only one hand, Apple's patent filing proposes fitting the camera module in a "malleable" wristband, which you'd be able to bend to prop up the lens against the watch.
The concept would also allow you to take selfies. To do this, the wristband could be fitted with two camera modules, one facing outward, the other facing inward. Or the camera module could be built on top of a rotatable hinge.
The patent, which was spotted by 9to5Mac, was filed in Sept. 2016. According to the filing, the company designed the concept technology so consumers could be more reliant on the Apple Watch $399.00 at Walmart. Of course, it could have chosen to place the camera on the watch's body. However, Apple said this would force the wearer into "uncomfortable and awkward positions" when trying to take photos. "A user's arm may also become fatigued when trying to record a video from the smartwatch's rigidly mounted camera," the company added.
Whether Apple will ever use the concept remains unknown. But the company routinely patents technologies that have yet to appear in actual products.
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