Two recent updates to a group of patents filed by Apple, suggest the company could be working on improving two of its iconic flagship accessories for the Mac.
A new Magic Mouse and Mac Keyboard
A new iteration of
Apple’s Magic Mouse, as well as a new Mac Keyboard are described as wireless versions with improved Bluetooth capabilities, upgraded to Bluetooth 4.2. This will likely result in huge improvements in battery life for both accessories, and improved communication with the host Mac.
Integrated Lithium batteries are also described in the upgrade, which eliminates the problem of routinely replacing double-A batteries. Using rechargeable batteries will likely allow Apple to do away with the cylindrical shape at the rear of the keyboard, which is currently used to fit the batteries.
The documents are not the typical patent filings that may or may not be used down the line. These documents are actually pre-production filings, for which prototype builds of these devices have already been constructed, and with any luck we will see them in 2016 iterations of the Mac Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini, or other future desktop Macs, as well as being sold separately.
The announcement for these new accessories, or at least a press release, may come after the September iPhone media event.