Apple Patents Mac Pro 'Cheese Grater' Design, Suggests It Could Be Used for iPhone

Apple has patented the 'cheese grater' design used for the housing of the new Mac Pro. According to the company, the design could be used for other electronics including smartphones, tablets, watches, and more.

Here's how Apple describes the structure...

A housing for an electronic device, comprising: a body having a first surface and a second surface; the body defining a first set of spherical cavities extending into the body; the body defining second set of spherical cavities extending into the body and eccentrically intersecting the first set of spherical cavities to form a hexagonally close-packed pattern of spherical cavities in fluid communication with a first set of apertures defined by the first surface and a second set of apertures defined by the second surface.


The filing suggests Apple could use the patented design on all sorts of devices. The company even shared several images of the design being used as part of a smartphone's housing.

The electronic device shown in FIG. 3 is a phone, such as a smartphone. The smartphone of FIG. 3 is merely one representative example of a device that can be used in conjunction with the systems and methods disclosed herein. As described with respect to electronic device 100, electronic device 200 can correspond to any form of electronic device, such as a wearable electronic device, a portable media player, a media storage device, a portable digital assistant ("PDA"), a tablet computer, a computer, a mobile communication device, a GPS unit, a remote-control device, and the like. The electronic device 200 can be referred to as an electronic device, or a consumer device. As shown, similar to the display or monitor shown in FIG. 2, the phone 200 of FIG. 3 can generally include a housing 201 and a cover 203. The housing 201 can be at least partially formed from or can include regions having a three-dimensional structure, as described herein.

Check out the images below and hit the link to read the full patent filing...

Read More [via PatentlyApple]