“Apple has invented a very cool next-gen headphone design that could be operated in two modes,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple.
“The first mode is the normal every day in-ear design that all headphones offer,” Purcher reports. “The second mode is where the fun comes in. It will allow users to rest their headphones on a table or other surface and kick them into true speaker mode with a full amplifier so that they could share their music with others in any room or other social setting.”
Purcher reports, “Because the headphones may need to provide a louder output in a speaker mode, the headphones could include an amplifier that may be used to amplify audio signals in the speaker mode. The amplifier could be bypassed or turned off in an in-ear mode.”
Much more, including Apple’s patent application illustrations and diagrams, in the full article here.
The idea sounds great, but I can see someone forgetting to change mode and blasting there eardrums out of there skull.
Amplifier won’t work when configured as headphones. Duh.
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If you read the patent page, it says there would be a safety proximity sensor to prevent something like that from happening.
I guess you didn’t read the original post. Apple addresses that point specifically and it appears that sensors will know that your ear is close to the headset and automatically change modes.
I’d buy it for when I’m on the road. My iPhone and my speakers with my headphone. Simple enough.
Teenager dream headphones.