An ‘Apple Ring’ patent emerges for smartwatch haters, awkward proposals

One could say that Apple has had a hand in reinventing some of the world’s most mundane products. First, came the iPhone (reinventing the phone) then the Apple Watch and its most recent addition is the Apple Pencil (reinventing graphite?). But a new patent filing has emerged which suggests that Apple’s not about to stop there.

An Apple Ring might be in the works, and will be a nice alternative to a diamond ring (but try telling your better half that).

Apple’s calling it a “Ring Computing Device” which it claims will feature a touchscreen, a wireless communications medium and a rechargeable power source, i.e. a battery of some kind.

Read more: 3 new iPhone 6S features Apple haters would love to have

Although it seems like a preposterous idea, a finger-clinging wearable does make sense in certain usage cases. Controlling a mouse cursor wirelessly through gestures is what many smart TVs do through their advanced remotes, so perhaps Apple’s pondering a futuristic Apple TV controller.

While controlling devices are nice, there’s also perhaps a hint of bolstering the company’s bounty here. No one will intrinsically need a smart ring, but if Apple does it, perhaps common sense will take a back seat to lust.

It should also be noted that this is just a patent, and doesn’t guarantee that Cupertino will be outing a device like this. It also holds patents for virtual reality devices too, but we haven’t seen those out in the wild yet.