Apple is still developing a new hinge design for its laptop products such as the MacBook. Since 2013, Apple has been researching and optimizing the hinge design. And now, the European Patent Office announced a new Apple patent that further explains the new flexible hinge design.

An enclosure for a laptop may be created from a rigid material having a flexible portion defined around approximately a midpoint of the material. The flexible portion may allow the rigid material to be folded in half and thus acts as a laptop clamshell. A top portion may support a display screen and a bottom portion may support a keyboard, track pad, and the like, while an interior defined by sidewalls of the rigid material may house a variety of electronic components in accordance with conventional laptop computing devices.

Referred to as "Living Hinge," the design allows the entire MacBook's enclosure to be made from one rigid of material. It sounds similar to the Surface Book's hinge introduced by Microsoft in 2015, which is called "dynamic fulcrum hinge," where you can reverse the notebook into a tablet, you can remove the screen from the hinge as well.Not doubt that in addition to increases flexibility, the new hinge design should make the production process easier than ever, as the entire housing can be made from one piece of material. (Via Patently Apple