Considering how Apple has spent a whopping $3 billion for the acquisition of Beats, what next for the company that changed the way the world used smartphones? Having said that, a couple of Apple patent filings that were published yesterday do point to an earbud design which is capable of detecting a user’s presence depending on the data that is derived from onboard sensors.
Smartphone manufacturers are certainly doing all in their power in order to increase the amount of battery life while simultaneously throwing in a slew of new features, with hardware engineers sweating it out in labs so that the hardware control systems can be optimized for maximum power efficiency.
It does look as though the most recent patent applications from Apple are headed in such a direction, as the earphones are touted to deactivate power-hungry features automatically whenever it no longer detects that the user is wearing them. Apple’s patent applications happen to be for “Ear Presence Detection in Noise Cancelling Earphones” and “Electronic Devices and Accessories with Media Streaming Control Features“, where both systems sport sensors that detect a user’s presence which will in turn, be able to opt to switch off select functions. We cannot wait to see whether these patents will be incorporated into actual products or not eventually.
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