Skip to main content

Apple has filed a patent for a paper bag, really

apple paper bag patent
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Is Apple running out of ideas for things to patent?

Whereas it usually sticks to tech-related stuff in its patent filings – among them a wraparound smartphone display, an all-touch haptic keyboard, a trackpad-compatible stylus, a tablet cover with a built-in screen, VR goggles, and a way to censor songs and audio books – its latest one targets the humble paper bag.

Yes, you read that right. Paper bag.

Recommended Videos

Of course, such an item is of extreme importance to Apple and its customers, as they provide a convenient way for people to carry their purchased goods from the Apple Store to their home.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Apple says as much in its filing, offering some useful background information that’s apparently aimed at those who’ve never heard of such an object. The company writes: “Bags are often used for containing items. For example, retail bags may be used to contain items purchased at a retail store.”

Of course, with the paper bag already a well-established part of the retail industry, Apple has to offer something new and original in its patent.

So besides describing a design for an environmentally friendly bag that’s “formed of white paper with at least 60 percent post-consumer content,” the document also offers details of a slew of unique modifications (many focusing on strategically placed corrugated cardboard inserts), as well as information on a handle “formed entirely of paper fibers knitted in an 8-stitch circular-knit pattern.”

Apple believes the design is robust enough to safely hold all your tech goodies, eliminating any possibility of a sudden split sending your purchases spilling across the sidewalk before you’ve even had a chance to unbox them.

The Cupertino company says that creating a bag formed entirely of paper “can help to reduce any environmental impact from production, use, and disposal of the bag,” a statement few of its customers are likely to quibble with.

If paper-bag design is your thing and you’re interested to learn more about Apple’s plan for what may or may not be a revolutionary new product, then you can check out the entirety of its filing at the United States Patent and Trademark Office website here. Enjoy.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Apple has just fixed one of the weirder iPhone bugs
The Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max's camera module.

Apple has squashed a bug on the iPhone and iPad that caused deleted photos to reappear on the devices.

As smartphone bugs go, this was surely one of the more bizarre ones. Reports of the strange issue began to surface following Apple’s rollout of iOS 17.5 last week.

Read more
Apple has quietly killed its cheapest iPad
Three 2021 iPads are stacked on a table.

The iPad lineup has received a price bump after Apple quietly killed its cheapest iPad model. Apple’s 9th-generation iPad used to cost $329, but has been discontinued. At the same time, the company has reduced the 10th-gen iPad’s starting price by $100, which means it’s now priced at $349. As a result, getting the cheapest iPad means you'll now spend $20 more than before.

The 9th-gen Apple iPad was launched in 2021 with the A13 chipset and Apple's Center Stage featur,e but retained the same old design with the already-old Lightning port and home button. With Apple moving to a USB-C port on all devices to comply with EU laws, it was inevitable that Apple would discontinue the 9th-gen iPad this year. The iPhone SE remains the only Apple product with a home button and a Lightning port that's still available in the company's lineup.

Read more
Apple finally has a way to defeat ChatGPT
A MacBook and iPhone in shadow on a surface.

OpenAI needs to watch out because Apple may finally be jumping on the AI bandwagon, and the news doesn't bode well for ChatGPT. Apple is reportedly working on a large language model (LLM) referred to as ReALM, which stands for Reference Resolution As Language Modeling. Made to give Siri a boost and help it understand context, the model comes in four variants, and Apple claims that even its smallest model performs on a similar level to OpenAI's ChatGPT.

This tantalizing bit of information comes from an Apple research paper, first shared by Windows Central, and it appears to be an early peek into what Apple has been cooking for a while now. ReALM is Apple's own LLM that was reportedly made to enhance Siri's capabilities; these improvements include a greater ability to understand context in a conversation.

Read more