What’s Apple up to next? These patents illuminate its plans

If you’re interested in seeing where a company is headed, check its patents. They’re the most public record we have, save for hyperbole-filled press releases, of what ideas a tech maker is working on. But they also show us the crazy, half-baked ideas that will never work, too. (We’re looking at you, air-expelling keyboard and banana phone case). Apple’s a company that likes to keep its projects under wraps best it can, but it’s obsession with patenting ideas gives us a portal into future plans. We have no idea if any of these will end up in real products, but here are some of our favorite Apple patents.