Apple New Patent: introducing hinge Design for HomePod to expand and enhance Audio experience

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizens Wu Yanzu in South China for the delivery of clues! CTOnews.com, February 24 (Xinhua) according to Apple's newly approved technology patents, Apple plans to introduce hinge design into future HomePod smart speakers to further expand and enhance the audio experience.

The current HomePod is cylindrical, and the current HomePod mini is closer to the sphere. In a patent called "Flexible Speakers" (flexible loudspeaker), Apple believes that the conventional shell is difficult to fit into a larger sound unit, which can be folded into a smaller shell.

When the user needs it, the user can expand the sound unit through the hinge to provide a more surging audio output. CTOnews.com translated some of the contents of the patent as follows:

Speakers with flexible components can support a variety of electronic devices (such as head-mounted displays, laptops, smartphones, or wearables).

In some examples, components such as magnets, diaphragms and walls of the loudspeaker housing can be flexibly combined, and operations such as folding, bending, unfolding into a fan, etc., can be carried out. The wall of the loudspeaker may include parts connected by hinges that allow flexibility or deformation of the loudspeaker portion.

Flexible loudspeakers can appear in a variety of consumer devices, using the limited packaging space to improve the flexibility of consumer devices.