The HTC U11‘s Edge Sensors are to be pressure sensitive only according to some details from someone who was said to be briefed on the device. For anyone that’s unaware, the Edge Sensors will be integrated into the frame of HTC’s upcoming device which the company will be officially announcing tomorrow, and the purpose of these sensors will be to initiate one-handed function of the phone whether it be to launch an app or some other device feature. While the numerous leaks and teasers from HTC have alluded to the frame being squeezable to make use of it, there was nothing really explicitly stating the the frame wouldn’t be responsive to touch, but today’s rumor seems to suggest that touch responsiveness has nothing to do with the Edge Sensors at all.
This might not be entirely new information for anyone that has been following the leaked details of HTC’s new phone for the past month or more, as many of the details about the yet unannounced device have already been leaked leading up to tomorrow’s announcement, and this includes the Edge Sensors which were detailed in our exclusive post from back in April, showcasing that users could squeeze the phone’s frame to initiate the action, and that they could set varying levels of pressure to enable the Edge Sensors and launch whatever function they configured the sensors to. The details that were covered in that post didn’t mention the Edge Sensors not being touch sensitive, but it was made clear that they would be pressure sensitive.
Some users may have been hoping that the phone would implement both touch and pressure sensitivity to allow for more configuration of launching different device apps and functions, but it seems that this is not what HTC wanted and has decided to keep the sensors to a pressure sensitive operation. That said, the test document materials that leaked back in April did detail that users would be able to set things to a light, medium, or hard squeeze, so this suggests there will be at least some range of customization here for users who want to use the sensors for launching multiple functions. In addition to this new rumor about the lack of touch sensitivity, a new image of the HTC U11 seems to have leaked in what looks like an HTC promotional render for the phone, which you can see above.