What if the Apple Watch got rid of its physical digital crown? A patent imagines replacing it with an optical sensor.
Among the characteristic features of theApple Watch, we could easily cite its digital crown. Despite the fact that it has been called the digital crown, it is in truth a physical crown that serves as a button, or a dial more precisely, for navigating the interface, browsing lists, etc.
It also allows users to move around menus and make certain adjustments. This is another way of interacting with the watch rather than going through the touch screen.
What if the Apple Watch got rid of its physical digital crown?
That being said, the Cupertino company could consider doing away with it. According to a patent discovered by Patently Apple, the apple brand has filed a patent for an Apple Watch without a digital crown. The smartwatch described in the patent document now has an optical sensor.
This sensor would offer the same functionality as the digital crown, except that it would analyze the user’s gestures to determine what the latter wants to do.
According to the description accompanying the file, the removal of the physical crown would allow the Cupertino company to save space inside the watch, a volume that would be used for other components, while making the whole more sustainable insofar as it will remove a mobile physical component – still relatively fragile -.
A patent imagines replacing it with an optical sensor
It has also been suggested that by implanting such an optical sensor, the new digital crown could also be used to take vital constants, such as heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and more, in addition to the ECG which is currently. taken with the digital crown, precisely.
That being said, as this is only a patent, it is impossible to know whether Apple actually intends to make such a change or not, but with the benefits listed above, we wouldn’t be surprised to see such an Apple Watch appear, whether it’s Series 8 or otherwise.