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Digital Trend reported that sometime in July of 2016, the tech giant filed for a patent for a product that sounds similar to a vaporizer. The only difference between this patent and other vape patents is that the application makes no mention of what the end-result use would be or what materials would be used to create the vaporization process.


The patent application was released by the United States Patent and Trademark Office this week. BGR is reporting that the abstract for the patent has also been released. It’s defined as:


“A chamber body is to receive therein a substance that is to be vaporized or sublimated into a vapor. A plate whose bottom face rests on the substance inside the chamber body is temperature regulated, e.g., using a heater therein, which releases heat directly above the substance that lies below. The plate slides downward as the substance is consumed by vaporization or sublimation.”


The patent application comes as an interesting turn in technology for Apple, which CNN is reporting is currently working on new products, such as smart home devices and cars. While the hope is that the patent is indeed for a new type of vape device, the product can be used in a variety of ways, including in the healthcare and agriculture industries.


The patent also holds some another exciting bit of technology: the description of the heating element used in the vaporizer is different from anything that’s currently on the market. Instead of simply heating the vapor, the device compresses it, leading many to believe that the product will not be used as a vaping device; watery vape liquid would not work well with the way it will be built.


However, if Apple does decide to enter the vape industry, it could bring a new, and possibly healthier nicotine, delivery system that would no doubt help cigarette smokers who are trying to quit. And if the device is designed to be used with more viscous liquid than current vape juices, it is also possible to innovate vaping liquid to also make it healthier.


While America is slowly accepting marijuana and vaping, especially with the new administration in power, it is not yet clear how Apple will use this patent. It is also less clear if this new vaporizer product would ever make it on a shelf; collecting patents is a habit of this tech giant and it has a large collection of products that have never materialized on shelves. Only time will tell if Apple decides to make an entrance into the vape industry.