New iPad leak reveals radical dual-screen design

While a foldable iPhone in the form of the iPhone Flip may be in the works, Apple’s next folding device may be a hybrid iPad with more tablets.

This is due to the patent “Modular multiple display electronic devices” that Apple filed with the US Patent Office, which shows how two tablets can be connected together to form one single device with a slick hinge mechanism.

The device in the patent looks like an Apple take on the Microsoft Surface Neo, in which two tablet-like displays are connected together by a hinge to form one large display with a notable but not a sharp seam in between. Much like the Surface Neo, the concept here seems to give more screen space for productivity tasks when you’re on an iPad, perhaps. The design looks like it could transform into a laptop, with one display acting as a virtual keyboard.

But while the Surface Neo is a single device, this Apple patent suggests that a hinge accessory could be used to connect two iPads, allowing a dual-screen modular device to be improved over time; say, use the latest iPad Pro as the main screen, and then an older iPad for the secondary display as a virtual keyboard deck.

According to the patent, the hinge would allow data to be transferred between the two tablets. This could allow sharing of hardware resources and provide a more powerful overall device.

In a coupled configuration in which the first and second electronic devices are mechanically coupled by the coupling element, the first computing resources are available for use by the second electronic device via the communication path, so that the first display can present visual content as a primary display. in accordance with the first and second computer sources, and the second display serves as a secondary display capable of providing data for the operation of the coupled configuration, “the patent states.