Edible Apple

A new report from DigiTimes notes that Apple recently ordered a number of samples of projected capacitive touch screens that may soon be incorporated into a touchscreen iMac.

Since current capacity for 20-inch and above projected capacitive touch panels is limited and the technology involved quite complex, Sintek, which is equipped with 5.3G generation production lines, has a good chance of becoming a supplier of the new models. Current iMacs come in 21.5-inch and 27-inch versions.

The new iMac is rumored to have a good vertical and horizontal viewing angle, and its projected capacitive touch panel will adopt a one-glass solution, which integrates the touch sensor and cover glass, to reduce thickness and weight.

Rumors of a touchscreen iMac stretch all the way back to November 2008 and resurfaced in January 2010 with reports that Apple was planning to release a 22-inch touchscreen iMac sometime before 2011. With October now in full swing, that clearly doesn’t seem to be on the immediate horizon, but we should point out that Patently Apple unearthed a patent filing detailing a touchscreen iMac back in August of this year.

First, Apple’s patent describes the transition process this way. When the iMac’s display is oriented upright and relatively far from you – the keyboard/mouse input mode could be selected and basically you’re operating in OS X mode.

Then to switch to a touch-based input, you’ll change the orientation of the iMac’s display so as to make touching the screen easier and more natural. For example, to enter touch input, you’ll want to pull the iMac’s screen closer to you while pushing the display screen down flat as if you were going to read a book, states the patent. In this orientation you’ll be able to select a corresponding UI which should translate to using iOS. In fact, the transition is really an automated process.

The transition is activated by the accelerometer as earlier described. What’s new here is that you’ll be able to control the threshold determining when the iMac’s transition from OS X to iOS will occur. Meaning, you could for example, set the threshold angle to 60 degrees to call up iOS or at 90 degrees or higher to recall OS X mode.