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Instead of only using headphones for your personal enjoyment, a new Apple patent could turn them inside out so they function as speakers when placed on a surface. These dual-mode headphones can be connected to an electronic device, such as a mobile phone, to provide an audio output.
According to Patently Apple, they can be moved between an in-ear position and a speaker position, with sensors that detect in which position the headphones are currently, adjusting the sound levels accordingly.
When in speaker mode, they would activate a powered amplifier for louder audio. These modes could also be manually selected, and there would be sensors for preventing speaker mode when the headphones are positioned near the user's ears.
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