The next-generation MacBook could feature a large trackpad that dynamically adjusts to the user's needs and tasks.

This is a new patent granted to Apple (discovered by Patently Apple) that seems to have gotten lost in the hoopla of new products coming out of Apple's Spring Loaded event, dubbed "Dynamic Input Surface" It describes a customizable trackpad.

The patent, granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), describes a dynamic trackpad that can be manipulated by the user's fingers to span the entire width of the laptop's keyboard deck. The trackpad area can also be moved to different parts of the lower half of the laptop.

Such a trackpad would give the user enough space to perform various scrolling gestures. This would appear to eliminate the need for the user to take their fingers off the input surface in order to continue scrolling through the content on the screen.

This would be a marked departure from the static trackpads found on the M1 MacBook Pro and others.

To achieve this, Apple has proposed the use of a layer consisting of "partially flexible" metal contact areas on the laptop with areas that can be selectively illuminated. This could be facilitated by a light that illuminates the perforated surface and the underlying portion of the contact space that is used or touched.

To allow the contact material to be flexible, Apple proposed the use of a deformable gel layer to give the trackpad a tactile feel when in use that Apple's Force Touch trackpad excels at. Without getting too technical, the patent basically explains how a large part of the device (in this case a machine much like a MacBook) could essentially be a large dynamic Force Touch trackpad.

In effect, it would have a versatile dynamic input surface that, when not in use, could act as a trackpad or other form of "input device." This may seem outlandish, but Apple already has a patent showing a reconfigurable solid-state keyboard designed to simulate key feedback, but still provide a flexible form of screen that can dynamically change keys and input functions.

Such a dynamic trackpad and reconfigurable keyboard may not appear on the rumored next-generation MacBook Pro 16-inch or MacBook Pro 14-inch. However, this does indicate that Apple may redesign future MacBooks to be more flexible in terms of input and set a new standard for laptop innovation. Alternatively, the idea of such a concept may remain in patent limbo.

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