Virtual, Adaptable Keyboard
This one isn’t so farfetched, though we hope Apple learned its lesson after the whole Butterfly Keyboard fiasco. People want their keys to go up and down! Anyway, Apple was granted a patent last year (via Patently Apple) for a virtual MacBook keyboard that would be completely customizable. Images in the patent showed a virtual keyboard with a normal QWERTY layout, another with a split economic layout, and a third that replaces keys with buttons.
It would essentially turn the MacBook’s deck into a blank canvas. There could be areas for you to wirelessly charge your phone, spots for a fingerprint reader, and any buttons, like the touchpad, might include capacitive or gesture controls instead of simple on/off actuation. This isn’t an entirely novel idea considering Lenovo already released a laptop with a similar concept, though it used E Ink for its keys.
