If you've ever owned an Apple product - be it a MacBook, iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch – you might have wondered why the tech behemoth never released a factory-stock matte black variant.
Sure, there's Space Gray. But we all know that isn't truly black, no matter how much you want to reassure the dark abyss of your soul that it is.
But a new patent filed by Apple reveals that the company is seriously considering the idea.
In the background section of the patent, Apple describes how various devices can come in all sorts of colors on anodized finishes. But it also mentions that achieving a true black color is extremely difficult, and requires technology that can absorb light, as opposed to reflecting it.
"Part of the challenge to achieving a true black color is that the surface of these enclosures generally has a high gloss finish, which contributes to specular reflection of a large amount of visible light," the patent reads.
But Apple believes they can pull it off by infusing black color particles with a matte, low-gloss finish in order to trap almost all light that shines on the surface.
"The etched anodized surface of the enclosures having light-trapping features (also referred to as light-absorbing features) is capable of absorbing generally almost all visible light incident thereupon. Additionally, whatever visible light not absorbed by the light-trapping features is diffusely reflected by the light-trapping features."
It took me a while to understand all that jargon, but it essentially means that whatever device Apple decides to implement these special light trapping properties on will definitely don true black colors.
Plus, the anodized finish in question also gets rid of nasty fingerprint stains. This is especially good news if Apple decides to make their other devices, like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch true black as well.
However, like all patents, we'll never really know if any of this will come to fruition until leaks or an official announcement by Apple is made.
For now, you'll have to wait it out with third party matte black device skins.
Click here to check out the full patent.
Read more Apple stories:
Apple launches AirPods Max headphones and they are not cheap
Is your iPhone draining battery fast after iOS 14.2? You're not alone.
Apple might give us a hardware surprise in time for Christmas
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Cover image sourced from Unsplash and World Today News.
