Force Touch is definitely one of the most talked about mobile-related tech at the moment. Apple has included this tech in their Apple Watch and iPhone 6s devices, while Huawei has announced this tech will be a part of their Mate S offering (one variant of the phone). Now, we’ve been hearing quite a few rumors lately that a number of additional OEMs intend on including this tech in their smartphones next year. Samsung and Xiaomi rumors have been the most intensive ones, and according to them, the Galaxy S7 might sport Force Touch, and so could one of Xiaomi’s upcoming flagships.
That being said, a new report surfaced regarding this pressure sensitive technology. According to a report from DigiTimes, three more companies have entered the force touch sensor market recently. FocalTech Systems, Goodix and Elan Microelectronics have all boarded this train lately, and all of these are either Chinese or Taiwanese companies. These three companies have already started shipping fingerprint scanner sensors, and they’re getting ready to get involved in the ‘Force Touch’ sector as well soon, and are hoping they’ll be able to ship such tech in 2016.
So, what is ‘Force Touch’ or ‘3D Touch’ as Apple calls it? Well, this tech basically lets the phone knows how hard you press on its display, which allows OEMs to introduce a number of new features. People tend to confuse long press with applying pressure on the display, and these two actions are completely different. You’ll still be able to long press on the display and get the usual set of options (depending on what you press), but with Force Touch, you can apply some pressure on the display and open up a new set of possibilities, as long as they’re coded into the OS or application.
Judging by how the things have been going thus far, Force Touch sure seems like the future of smartphones. The question remains, is this an improvement, or not? Well, everyone has an opinion on this, and I’m sure some of you would love to share yours in the comments. Either way, you can expect quite a few smartphones to sport Force Touch tech in 2016.