A newly-uncovered patent application from Apple (dug up by Apple Insider) suggests that the future of iOS devices will be a lot more touchable.

Apple's patent, "Methods and Systems for Providing Haptic Control," is a means to make a touchscreen feel like it has a texture by electrically stimulating haptic elements under a piece of plastic.

Those elements then rise or fall, literally making the touchscreen more tactile.

A normally smooth touchscreen surface could raise to simulate the buttons of a keyboard, for example.

The only question we have is whether or not the technology will be appearing in the next-generation iPhone.

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