Today the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals their new retail product demonstration fixtures, and more particularly, to electronic product demonstration fixtures for demonstrating portable electronic devices. Apple's new in-store product displays began with the Apple Watch as noted in the graphic below from a report we published in April.

Today, Apple reveals in patent application 20150245722 that their new in-store retail displays may extend to the iPhone in the future.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 depicts a front perspective view of an example product demonstration fixture for displaying and anchoring Apple Watch.

Apple's patent FIG. 7 noted above depicts a front perspective view of an example product demonstration fixture #100 for displaying and anchoring an alternate portable electronic device such as an iPhone or iPod Touch. As with the example embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the product demonstration fixture includes a base that may include an upper layer and a bottom layer, a cover and a foot respectively. The portable electronic device may be rigidly affixed to the product demonstration fixture by an elevating attachment #108. Within the elevating attachment may be included a data cable for transferring data between the product demonstration fixture and the portable electronic device.

In some embodiments, the receptacle may be included below a removable foot of the product merchandising fixture which may be adhered by magnetic attraction so as to be removable. Removal of the foot portion may expose the charging receptacle.

In still further embodiments, the charging receptacle may be another connector type separate from a barrel connector. For example, the charging receptacle may be a connector type that is common within the retail setting. For example, a retail setting for demonstrating laptop computers may include a number of adapters for charging laptop computers. In such an example, the charging receptacle of the product merchandising fixture may be compatible with the adapters otherwise used for charging laptop computers. In another example, in a retail setting for demonstration a USB device may include a number of adapters for charging via USB. In such an example, the charging receptacle of the product merchandising fixture may be USB-compatible. In another example, the product merchandising fixture may replenish the auxiliary battery contained therein via inductive charging.

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