People have been desperately looking for ways to make the Apple logo on the rear of the iPhone light up ever since the handset debuted back in 2007. Some have even succeeded. But it looks like the Cupertino firm's next iPhone (dubbed the iPhone 12) could offer the feature as standard – with the badge illuminating whenever there's an unread notification. That's right, folks ... Apple may have finally caved.
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First discovered (opens in new tab) by Apple Insider, the fruit-named company has filed for a patent to use the logo on the rear of the iPhone as a notification light. More specifically, Apple envisages the badge changing appearance to attract attention for incoming communication – a telephone call or a WhatsApp message, for example – and other user-related alerts, like calendar events, reminders and fitness prompts.
It hints that it could do this by either changing colour, illuminating or flashing.
This isn't an entirely new concept. As noted (opens in new tab) by The Verge, the logo on the rear of the Motorola One Zoom moonlights as a notification LED, rather than a fingerprint reader, as was the case on earlier models. The Razer Phone 2 also features a static illuminated Razer motif – similar to how the emblem on earlier versions of the Apple MacBook (2015 or before) lights up the instant the device is powered on.
Apple repeatedly references "cellular telephone" calls as part of its description, which heavily suggests that it's considering using the feature on a future iPhone, like the iPhone 12. However, it also includes diagrams of the function in action on other hardware, like an iPad, a MacBook and even an iMac.. Although, the light is believed to be static on the middlemost and latter – and not used to denote a new alert.
Just keep in mind Apple files thousands of patents, most of which never see the light of day, so best take this latest one with a pinch of your preferred seasoning.
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