Just before the new iPad was announced, that Apple could be implementing a new haptic texture display in the tablet, which would create a 'textured feedback' by means of a small electrical stimulus. The new iPad emerged with no such display, however, a new patent filed by Apple has revealed a more advanced multi-tiered haptics system, .

The system would allow an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch's display to deform to make a button, an arrow or a map pop out of the screen to give it three-dimensional depth.

The latest patent shows an invention that uses layered haptic controls. Patently Apple says: "Haptic systems may be used for actuation such as vibration, shape change (e.g., contouring a flat surface), or other suitable actuations or combination of actuation which may provide tactile feedback to a user.

Patently Apple states that in Apple's new invention: "Stacked arrays may be used to create a contoured screen surface such as, for example, contour maps, shaped buttons, moving contours or shapes, or other surfaces with multi-scale features."

The tiered haptic display could also be pressure sensitive, a significantly beneficial feature for drawing and painting apps, for example.