After making news for iPhone 7 (and the infamous dropping of the headphone jack), Apple has filed a US patent for its paper bags because, Apple claims, they are better and require some serious engineering.
Why, you may ask?
Apple’s paper bag is made out of pulp of trees (duh) BUT it’s also recycled paper – at least 60% of it. The big deal, apparently, is that when more recycled paper is used in bags, they tend to be weak and tear easily.
"SBS [solid bleached sulfate] paper having greater than 40 percent or 50 percent post-consumer content would conventionally be considered too weak (eg, prone to tearing) for use in a bag, particularly a bag with multiple folds such as corner folds or expansion folds that give it shape or allow it to expand from a flat configuration to an open configuration," Apple says in its patent, filed in March.
And so, the idea behind the patent is to stake exclusive claim to technology behind making “sturdy” paper bags with more recycled paper content.
“The Apple packaging designers behind the patent outline that paper reinforcement inserts may be used to strengthen weak points and provide more resistance to tearing, thus boosting how much recycled paper it can use,” says a ZD Net report.
The handle of the bag, which will also be composed to paper, is going to contain a few innovations as well. Apparently, Apple wants customers to experience a smooth shoe-lace like finish when the carry the bag rather than the rough and unfinished feel of usual paper handles:
“Typical paper handles are stiff and inflexible; these qualities contribute to a rough, unfinished feel. In some embodiments of the present invention, the bag handle may be formed to have a feel and flexibility unlike that typical of paper, however. For example, the handle's feel and flexibility may be similar to that of a hollow textile tube, like a shoelace. To effect this feel and flexibility, the handle may be formed of knitted paper fibers in a tight-knit pattern with a large diameter,” Apple says in its patent application.
And this is not the first time Apple tried to innovate, er, unconventionally(?). It’s previous patents include laser-printed fabric it uses in iPad Pro keyboard, a five axis robotic arm, and even an Apple store feature called ‘the grove’.