The MacBook and iPad concepts could come together to form a convertible laptop-tablet hybrid that comes apart, indicates a new Apple patent.
The company's patent for such a computer was published by the U.S. patent office today under the name "wireless display for electronic devices."
The Apple documents detail a laptop-tablet hybrid complete with a base and a removable display along the lines of the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga and Dell XPS 12 convertibles.
However, the major difference between those devices and the one that Apple has outlined is the way in which this conceptual MacBook convertible would be charged.
This display includes "a display wireless chip in communicating with the base wireless chip, and a power wireless chip in communication with the power source," reads to the patent.
"When the display is at least in one position with respect to the base, the power source transmits power to the power transition member of the display."
Yet Apple mocks convertible laptops
Apple CEO Tim Cook has gone on the record to mock the idea of a MacBook-iPad hybrid.
"Anything can be forced to converge, but the problem is that products are about tradeoffs, and you begin to make tradeoffs to the point where what you have left doesn't please anyone," he told CNET last year.
"You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user."
History also has shown that company files patents all of the time for devices that never make it to the Apple store.
Apple's words matter
This MacBook-iPad hybrid could be an idea that users never see come to fruition, or its implementation of wireless charging could be Apple's way of improving upon what it once mocked just enough to twist its own words.
Most recently, Apple did this by knocking the idea of 7-inch tablets that were deemed too small, and then released the 7.9-inch iPad mini, claiming it to be the perfect size.
Likewise, the company claims that cheaper iPhones will never be its focus, but there's a new iPhone mini rumor popping up every month.
