New Apple Patent Could Mean Lasers in Your Next iPhone

Apple could add tiny lasers to the iPhone and Apple Watch, which could have major implications for smartphone development and overall security.

according to a Recent patent applicationsApple is experimenting with horizontal cavity surface emitting lasers (HCSELs). They sound complicated (and they are), but the technology basically allows an array of HCSELs to be placed under the display to monitor biometrics and other environmental factors. There are many other applications for HCSEL, and developers exploring the technology’s potential could lead to a wave of new features on the iPhone and Apple Watch.

“A wider variety of input options and now world reading options give these developers more tools,” Dmitry Williamsprofessor USC Annenberg told Lifewire in an email. “So, whatever Apple is thinking about using is one thing, but the really interesting stuff might come from the enormous distributed intelligence among developers.”

Apple has big plans for its lasers

So what are Apple’s plans for these lasers? This is still up in the air. What is filed in patents doesn’t always come to fruition, and they are often used as an all-encompassing approach to ensure the law covers all possible features. In this patent, Apple lays out huge potential plans for enhanced biometrics and security features.

“Apple wants to make the iPhone and Apple Watch indispensable tools for security and identification,” Mike FabbsPresident and Chief Analyst Feike Technology, told Lifewire in an email. “The company has done a lot of work – like vaccine passport records, and most recently driver’s licenses. There’s still a lot of work to be done. The industry has been moving towards single sign-on, passwordless entry. And locked – only A phone you only have access to, it can be used to open anything from work documents and bank accounts to medical records.”

Smartphone security remains a top priority for manufacturers – and the possible return of TouchID is bound to put a smile on the face of Apple users around the world.

Biometrics is only part of the patent, as air quality monitoring is mentioned several times in the document. As a California-based company, wildfires are a growing public health problem, and Apple is no stranger to how air quality can affect your health. The ability to look down at your Apple Watch and get up-to-date air quality data specific to your exact location (rather than generic numbers from third-party databases) may be a major feature for smartwatches moving forward. The American West struggles with harsh air conditions.

“Increased wildfires have been linked to worsening air quality in the U.S.,” Rebecca Buchholzatmospheric chemist National Center for Atmospheric Research,write on Research published earlier this year“Our study suggests that smog-related health effects expected to worsen with climate change may already be present.”

In theory, Apple’s patent could allow its products to alert you when the air you’re breathing is unhealthy, and advise you to exercise indoors. As air quality gets more and more attention from scientists and citizens, this feature is bound to get a lot of use.

explore the unknown

Biometrics and air quality monitoring may be features planned by Apple, but there are always opportunities for third-party developers to offer consumers more exciting uses. This patented technology is available to developers outside of Apple, which means they can freely use the hardware in their own applications.

“My view of these things is kind of like what happens when we go from phones with buttons to the flat panels of our current smartphones,” Williams told Lifewire. “On the one hand, we lose a lot of direct input through buttons. However, they are replaced with surfaces that can be anything.”

“For developers, it means that any interface is suddenly possible, so we’re free from the constraints of just having a keyboard,” he said. “Think of all the input types on the phone’s surface in apps. So they’ve invented millions of new games and apps.”