Can anyone guess what this ‘Apple pebble’ device is for?

We reported last year on an intriguing patent for an ‘Apple pebble’ device, which appeared to be intended as some kind of Vision Pro accessory.

Now the company has applied for a new patent on what appears to be another take on the tiny mysterious device …

Last year’s ‘digital stone’ patent

The patent granted last year was for a small device Apple referred to as a digital “stone.” This appeared to be something vaguely AirTag-like in size and form-factor, and intended to be used in conjunction with Vision Pro or some future VP-like device.

We noted at the time that the patent wording was deliberately vague, making it tough to figure out what exactly the company had in mind for the object.

There were various clues as to potential uses. One of them was acting as a physical representation of objects in a virtual world, allowing them to persist between virtual reality sessions, and to be handed off between different headsets and users.

Another was acting as a control, that we could turn or squeeze the stone in order to manipulate a virtual object inside Vision Pro.

Today’s patent application for an ‘Apple pebble’

In a continuation patent application published today, Apple expands on the idea – equipping the device with a display, voice-recognition capabilities, and more.

The company again describes so many different possibilities it’s hard to figure out how the company may actually plan to use it.

For example, a handheld electronic device [the size of a pebble or coin] may have a small, touch-sensitive display for gathering touch input and providing visual output, one or more microphones for gathering voice input, one or more speakers for providing audio output, and location tracking circuitry for tracking the location of the handheld electronic and/or for tracking the location of external electronic devices. If desired, the handheld electronic device may include haptic output devices for providing haptic output to a user.

The handheld electronic device may serve as a voice-controlled assistant, may serve as a stand-alone electronic device running one or more software applications (e.g., a weather application, a music streaming application, a calculator application, a calendar application, a payment application, etc.), may serve as a remote control for household items such as speakers, lights, kitchen appliances, etc., may serve as an anchor or visual marker in an augmented reality or virtual reality system, may serve as an accessory device for gathering input and/or providing output associated with an external electronic device such as a pair of headphones, a loudspeaker, a cellular telephone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a head-mounted device, etc., and/or may be used for other functions.

One illustration shows a real-world remote control option – the device switching on a floor lamp – though it’s unclear why this would be better than using a Watch, iPhone, or Siri command to a HomePod. In another drawing, it’s stuck to a fridge, fridge-magnet style, and appears to be displaying some text.

And in this drawing, it is, says Apple, “being used as a marker in a virtual reality system in accordance with an embodiment.”

This Princess Leia-like one is the same idea in a video call.

Then there’s the coffee one in the main image at the top. Check out the patent text and drawings, and share your theories in the comments …

Spotted by Patently Apple