Display actuators for electronic devices have been one of the focal experiments of Apple computer. The company claims that a display actuator will serve to both display visual information and act as a mechanical input, therefore reducing the space needed to implement both components on devices such as media players. The device can possibly display visual information like text, characters and graphics. It can also take on multiple roles, such as a clickable button, sliding toggle, rotating dial, or a motion controlling device (ie. joystick).

Two of a display actuator's main functions are its compatibility to be incorporated into any electronic device to control various aspects of the electronic device, and/or as a stand alone device that operatively couples to an electronic device through wired or wireless connections.

"The display may [...] be made movable through a combination of joints such as a pivot/sliding joint, pivot/flexure joint, sliding/flexure joint [or] pivot/pivor joint in order to increase the range of motion," Apple engineers said on the display component, which could be based on LCD, OLED, Plasma or rear-projection technology.

One of its promised advantages is that conventional input means on electronic devices having displays can be substantially eliminate, since the display provides user inputs.