is Apple planning to launch a Microsoft Surface Neo clone

US patent office granted apple a patent today ( Patent #: US010585708 ) which allows the company to use multiple displays together for displaying a single piece of content.

Here is patent's abstract

Multiple electronic devices may be used together in a system. The electronic devices may use sensor measurements and other information to detect when an edge of a first electronic device is adjacent to an edge of a second electronic device. In response to detection of adjacency between the edges of the first and second devices, the devices may transition from an independent operating mode in which each device operates separately to a joint operating mode in which resources of the devices are shared. In the joint operating mode, images may extend across displays in the devices, speakers in the devices may be used to play different channels of an audio track, cameras and other sensors may be used in cooperation with each other, and other resources may be shared. Magnetic components may hold devices together in a variety of orientations.

You might have noticed that this patent talks about building a device quite similar to Microsoft Surface Neo. Is Apple planning to launch a competitor of Microsoft Surface Neo?

 The drawings in the patent application look quite similar to Microsoft Surface Neo.

The devices are separated in stage 50-1 and may operate independently. As devices come in close proximity of each other  the content on device 10A is presented on the screens of both 10A and 10B. This is a very broad patent and we don't know how is it going to impact Microsoft's Surface Neo launch. Please remember that this is just a patent application and it doesn't imply that Apple has plans to launch a product based on this patent. Companies file numerous patents  everyday that doesn't mean all those patents will eventually become part of  their product lines.