New Patent Reveals How Future Apple Watch Models Could Hide a Camera Inside the Digital Crown

Photo credit: Peta Pixel
Ever since the first Apple Watch was released back in 2015, users have asked the company to incorporate a camera for selfies or just a quick photo, but now, we finally get an idea of how one can seamlessly be integrated into the smartwatch. The sensor and lens would be integrated directly into the Digital Crown, although some may consider this a privacy risk since you’ll be able to snap photos without someone’s knowledge.

A previously granted patent for a camera embedded under the display states that while the wrist may occlude the camera from taking pictures of a scene when the watch housing is worn on the wrist, it would be removable via a release mechanism in the attachment interface. Or, the housing can be removed the altogether to capture pictures with the back-facing camera. The new patent for a camera built into the Digital Crown can include a rotatable dial for digital inputs and images to be captured through an aperture extending through the dial. Users who wants an Apple Watch camera now will have to settle for the WristCam.

A lens can be integrated within the aperture and/or behind the aperture of the dial to focus an image of a scene. An image sensor disposed behind the aperture can further be configured to detect movement of a marking on the dial to allow the image sensor to function both as a camera for capturing pictures of a scene, and as a sensor that detects rotation of the dial for sensing rotational inputs,” according to the patent description.