Apple Secrets: A Glimpse Into Silicon Valley’s Most Exclusive Roadmap
Hidden gems on the internet are hard to find, but one of my favorites, Patently Apple, offers a fascinating peek into Apple’s most secretive ideas.
The site won’t win any design awards with its throwback 2005 aesthetic, but it delivers a rare behind-the-scenes look at Apple’s upcoming projects.
Jack Purcher, the author of Patently Apple, diligently tracks every Apple patent filing and approval, offering detailed product sketches accompanied by concise commentary.
Despite Apple's renowned secrecy, patent filings offer a valuable window into its inner workings and are perhaps the most reliable way to predict its roadmap.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, I found myself with a rare bit of free time (a luxury with a 2-year-old daughter!). I decided to dive into Apple’s latest patent filings and approvals, and share a few of my favorites with you.
Upgraded Apple Watch Experience
Apple's commitment to health and fitness tracking is no secret, but recent patents suggest a big leap forward.
Patent 12133743 describes a huge upgrade for future Apple Watch models: stretchable fabric bands embedded with an array of sensors into the straps.
These smart bands could potentially monitor blood pressure, respiration rates, and even capture electrocardiogram (ECG) readings.
The patent suggests these sensor-rich bands might not be limited to wrist wear — and proposes applications for stretchy fabric in products including hats, shirts, pants, and athletic wear.
Imagine a future where Apple-branded fitness apparel could track your vitals from your forehead, chest, or bicep. With more data being collected, we’ll get better insights into user health, and combining that with large language models will make the insights even more powerful.
One of the inventors listed on this patent, Daniel Podhajny, previously worked on Nike's legendary Flyknit material. This hints at a future where Apple's wearable tech integrates with high-performance athletic wear.
Modular iPhone on the Horizon
In a surprising move, Apple has filed a patent application for a potential modular iPhone design. This concept features a removable back panel that users could swap out to add functionality.
Imagine being able to slide in an extra battery pack for extended use or upgrading your camera system without buying an entirely new phone.
This modular design aligns with recent Right to Repair legislation, which has pushed Apple to make its devices more user-friendly and serviceable.
It's a significant shift from their historically closed ecosystem, potentially allowing users greater control over their device's capabilities and lifespan.
While not all patents lead to actual products, this filing shows that Apple is exploring the idea of more flexible and customizable designs for future iPhones.
Smart Glasses: Next Iteration of Apple Vision Pro
The launch of the Apple Vision Pro did not live up to expectations, but that doesn’t mean Apple is stepping away from smart glasses.
The rave reviews for Meta's Ray-Ban Smart Glasses have been hard to miss—they’re getting praise across the board. Apple is surely taking note, and it will be interesting to see how they approach smart eyewear going forward.
At Apple, an internal project known as Atlas is reportedly in progress to evaluate the company’s current smart glasses offerings.
I find it interesting that Apple is only doing focus groups and research with their own employees, instead of also including external users. Classic Apple—keeping things private. The strategy is to prevent leaks and keep their roadmap under wraps.
To be clear, Apple isn't playing catch-up in the smart glasses category. As you can learn from reading Patently Apple, they have been filing smart glasses technology patents for over seven years.
I’d guess Apple’s smart glasses (EyePods, perhaps?) will be much more laid-back than the Apple Vision Pro—more like Meta’s Ray-Ban sunglasses.
They’ll of course integrate with Apple’s ecosystem, including features like augmented reality, hands-free Siri, and new ways to create and consume photos and video while on the move.
Siri: The Large Language Model Upgrade
Speaking of Siri, Apple is racing to develop a more conversational version of its digital assistant.
Siri has always been an underwhelming product, and the current surge in AI innovation is an existential moment for Apple to elevate its capabilities.
This revamped Siri will leverage advanced large language models (LLMs) to enable more natural, back-and-forth conversations with users — with greater agentic capabilities.
To succeed, Siri’s AI assistant will need to handle more sophisticated requests quickly and efficiently. The current Siri product is unreliable and the outputs are much less impressive than what we are seeing with natural language prompts at OpenAI and Anthropic.
Apple knows this is a critical moment for Siri and the upgrade is part of Apple's broader push into artificial intelligence.
The launch of Apple Intelligence this year had much room for improvement, and iOS 18.2 (announced last week) will include upgrades including:
Image generation capabilites called Image Playground. The new feature allows users to input a text prompt, and the AI generates an image in a cartoon style.
New writing capabilites built into Siri that integrate directly with ChatGPT. You will be able to use Apple Intelligence to help write emails, essays, and more.
The upgraded Siri will potentially transform how we interact with Apple devices, by shifting us toward using our voices more than typing. It could also help Apple close the gap with competing AI assistant applications like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.
I anticipate that an LLM-powered Siri upgrade will significantly impact the broader AI startup ecosystem as well.
Users will grow increasingly accustomed to voice-first product experiences and there will be a lot of voice innovation in the coming years.
Apple’s Roadmap
From health-tracking fabrics to modular phones, smart glasses, and conversational AI, Apple will continue to push the boundaries of consumer technology.
As always, take patent filings with a grain of salt. Not every idea evolves into a product, and when it does, the final version often looks quite different from the original concept.
As a venture capitalist and founder, staying ahead of the curve is key, and sites like Patently Apple are super helpful for that.
—
Author’s note: here is the X account for Patently Apple: https://x.com/PatentlyApple. Following this might be more convenient than bookmarking the site.