A ton of recent rumors all but confirm Apple plans to enter the TV market with a full-fledged Apple-branded HDTV, but today a patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office details an advancement of high refresh rate LCD technology known as “fringe field switching.” As described by PatentlyApple, Apple’s patent offers advancements in the technology that would allow FFS for use with large screen HDTVs. The report noted, “Previous versions of FSS couldn’t accommodate such large displays.” PatentlyApple explained:
The patent originally filed in 2008, and PatentlyApple noted current IPS technology used in iMacs “stems from this patent.” However, various mentions of using the tech in a TV are also notable:
We heard rumors of an Apple HDTV earlier this month when Piper Jaffray’s resident Apple analyst Gene Munster claimed, “It will be the biggest thing in consumer electronics since the smartphone.” In February of this year, a report from Canada’s largest newspaper The Globe and Mail claimed Apple was in talks with carriers Bell and Rogers about a partnership for “wireless and broadband capabilities.” It also claimed the carriers “already have the product in their labs.”
