Apple Watch bands might come with features in the future

Apple Watch bands might come with features in the future
Apple's devices, especially the iPhone and Apple Watch, have a ton of third-party manufacturers making peripherals that work with them. Apple, however, is in the unique position to create accessories that stand out in the sea of third-party options by creating a specific relationship between its products.

A new patent that the company has been granted recently hints that Apple might, at some point, release a special type of bands for the Apple Watch, that would have a unique effect once placed on it. Well, actually, the patent speaks of two unique effects — turning on a particular app and changing the displayed theme to match the band's color.

As the folks at AppleInsider mention, Apple had already received another patent that is somewhat related to this one. It described a type of Apple Watch band that the user would be able to change the color of at will. How would that happen you ask? Well, to put in very simple terms, the watch would apply voltage to a band with an electrochromic layer woven into filaments.


This newer patent seems to be on the more realistic side, as it simply requires the use of near-field communications (NFC). The watch would read the NFC tag imbedded in the band and identify it, supposedly following up with some kind of reaction. This could also be used to alert the wearer if they have an original/certified Apple product and not one that is "shady".

This is still a patent, so we cannot at all be certain if the idea will evolve into a real product or not, but it sounds like a perfect way for Apple to have further control and profit from its popular wearable. What would be much cooler though, is that color-changing band. So many owners of smartwatches use them as a fashion accessory, and this would make the Apple Watch the ultimate one in terms of versatility.

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