A report Thursday by the The Economic Daily News claims to have identified a company that will supply Apple with a pressure-sensitive touch technology for the next iPhone. US-based Avago Tech, which lists Apple as a key customer, will be the main supplier of a 3D touch technology for an ‘iPhone 6s’ refresh, supply chain sources assert.
For what it’s worth, recent reports by Tech News Taiwan and UDN did mention that the next iPhone might adopt the Watch’s Force Touch feature that uses tiny electrodes around the display to differentiate between a light tap and a deep press.
The source mentions that Avago Tech has also been involved in the early stages of development for the Wii Gesture Sensor technology. Assuming the iPhone 6s makes its debut this Fall, it may be a tad too early to call out any specific supplier by its name.
Don’t get me wrong, Apple is definitely procuring iPhone components as we speak. But, I don’t think contracts have been signed as the handset has yet to reach a prototyping stage and we would have seen some credible leaks by now.
Whether or not Asian supply chain sources are referring to Force Touch when mentioning 3D Touch remains to be seen.
For the time being, we’re putting this one into the ‘Relatively Unlikely’ drawer until more reliable sources have stepped forward and confirmed reportage of UDN, Tech News Taiwan and The Economic Daily News.
Also, how would Force Touch apply to an iPhone and what benefits, if any, would it offer as opposed to tapping an option in a menu? Pressing the Watch’s tiny screen to show quick options related to the context of the app makes lots of sense.
On the iPhone, not so much.
Besides, implementing a new user interaction method would entail writing new APIs so developers would need to update their apps in order to take advantage of this rumored new functionality.
Thoughts?
Source: The Economic Daily News (Google Translate) via G for Games