Apple could bow to its upcoming iPhone slate from 3D Touch. MacRumors says that this year’s pressure-sensitive technology will not make an appearance on all iPhones.
Barclays analysts confirmed last week that 3D Touch will be removed from the said phones using a research note. MacRumors says that in August 2018 Barclays predicted this removal. In January 2018, too, the Wall Street Journal said the same thing much earlier.
The Rise And Fall Of 3D Touch
Apple’s iPhone 6S debuted 3D Touch in 2015. This feature recognizes how hard a finger presses on the screen and triggers different functions depending on the pressure level. For example, lightly tapping an app will start it as normal, but pressing a bit harder will open a “shortcuts” menu to allow faster access to the core functions of that app.
As VentureBeat notes, 3D Touch could have been a “killer” addition to iPhones and iPads and could have made iOS as a user interface more dynamic. But beyond “Peek and Pop,” which allows certain applications to create floating web page previews or context-specific menus, there have been no other significant uses for 3D Touch, and even now the feature appears to be underused. There are other uses for Three dimension Touch, of course, such as applying pressure to animate Live Wallpapers or watching Live Photos play, but Apple doesn’t seem to have grand plans to improve their implementation.
Haptic Touch
This is not Apple’s first removal of 3D Touch. It has already replaced it on the iPhone XR with Haptic Touch to achieve an almost edge-to-edge LCD on the device. This is likely to be extended to all expected iPhones this year. For the uninitiated, Haptic Touch is simply the fancy way Apple names a long press that provides haptic feedback from the Taptic Engine in-device.
Nevertheless, it’s unclear why Apple feels the need to completely remove the feature, since both the iPhone XS and XS Max have it, 3D-Touch pricing can be integrated into OLED displays without any problems. Haptic Touch works in fewer places and doesn’t support fast meus or Peek and Pop, meaning it’s basically downgraded from Three dimension Touch.
If Tech Times gets a closer look at iOS 13, which Apple is expected to unveil at its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote this June, there may be more hints of Three dimension Touch going away. After that, when its release pattern holds, Apple will release new iPhones in September.
