An Apple patent application has described how transparent glass keycaps could be used to improve MacBook keyboard durability.

Some aesthetic materials are brittle, rigid, or difficult to manufacture into keycaps with desired surface features.

The patent application describes a way to completely avoid that by having inverted keyboard glyphs beneath the surface, so that light shines through the transparent surface.

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a keycap for a keyboard that includes a key body comprising a top external surface.

The key body can comprise a transparent body having a bottom surface, a light-blocking material attached to the bottom surface of the transparent body, with the light-blocking material defining a glyph shape, and a carrier body configured to support the transparent body and the light-blocking material.

The top external surface can include at least two edges and a center, with the at least two edges being raised relative to the center.

In some cases, the transparent body can comprise a glass material, the carrier body can comprise a polymer material, and the light-blocking material can comprise an opaque layer positioned between the glass material and the polymer material.

The transparent body can comprise a transparent polymer material, and the top external surface can also comprise concave curvature.

Glasses, transparent ceramics (e.g., sapphire), transparent polymers, and similar materials can be desirable to use on a surface of keycaps to achieve these objectives.