Apple's glass Force Touch trackpad is one of the best features on MacBook Pro and Air laptops. And now, the Cupertino folks may go a step further and add glass keycaps to future MacBook keyboards.

An Apple patent application has been published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), detailing how glass polymer can be used as a transparent keycap, allowing light and "glyphs" to show through. The keycaps themselves are curved inward, so that they are not stressed by thousands or tens of thousands of strikes.

See-through glass keycaps are more durable than plastic keycaps. In addition, symbols normally printed on top of the keycap can be placed under the keycap, preventing the symbols from wearing out with sustained use.

The Apple patent explains that a light-shielding layer is used under the keys and over the black light so that the keyboard symbols are effectively defined and illuminated under the keycaps. However, since the entire key is illuminated, Apple could be more creative with keyboard backlighting.

However, durability seems to be the key here, and Apple seems to acknowledge that low-travel plastic keycaps, like those on MacBooks before the Magic Keyboard, trade off longevity for aesthetics.

"Many visually pleasing solutions lack the durability to extend such functionality. This is especially true when electronic devices and/or associated input devices are smaller, thinner, or otherwise reduced in dimension," Apple's transparent keycap patent notes. For example, a keycap with smaller dimensions may be less structurally sound and have a shorter life than a thicker keycap made of the same material."

Apple's MacBook keyboards have received more praise after dropping the butterfly mechanism of the older MacBooks in favor of a scissor switch mechanism first unveiled on the MacBook Pro 16-inch. However, from the looks of this patent, Apple clearly thinks it can do better.

The patent was filed in May 2019, so there is a good chance that the next-generation MacBook will feature glass keycaps. However, we won't see them before 2021.