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Force Touch Panels Enter Mass Production Ahead of 'iPhone 6s' Launch

chrisfromalbany said:
As Samsung ready's for "Copy Touch" just 6 months later.. ;)
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If they can make it, and such a device/feature is shown to be popular with buyers, then yes, I would expect them to.
As I would expect YOU to, if you were working for me, trying to make the most popular items so OUR company can make as much money as possible?

Or as you a bad employee and would see something that is selling well, and make something else?

This is what companies do, and what nature itself does. What works/is wanted gets copies and succeeds, what fails/shown not to work gets dropped.

Its how we as a world progress.
 
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Jsameds said:
Don't forget "tock" cycle (S series, as opposed to the "tick" cycle which is the numbers) always has the same design as the previous model, meaning they've also ironed out any design flaws in the hardware.

**Ahem** Bendgate...

and **ahem** antennagate...
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Yes, I was refering to that when I said "A refinement of the structure, any hardware issues are adressed", but I'm not an english native speaker, so I did my best to explain that.

Thanks for your quote, I agree 100% with what you said.
 
BMcCoy said:
Is it?
Okay... but I'm sure I remember reading way back that 'Force Touch' was a term to describe different ways of implementing this effect.. on trackpads (Macbooks) that already move down a bit, then yes, the sensor is upgraded to appreciate the force of the pressure.. but on surfaces that do not move down, ie phone screens, it would be surface area to determine force of press.

Reference: http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/force-touch-to-bring-significant-change-to-next-iphone-says-analyst/

Happy to be wrong.. in which case, a moving iPhone screen is interesting..
Can you point me to any links? Cheers.
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The track pad with force touch does not move. That's the whole point of the technology. Force sensors are passive in the sense that they don't need to move to track force (they actually do move, but on a micrometer scale if not less. The glass front of the screen bends down more than the sensors are compressed). Those sensors are called piezoelectric sensors and are in use for decades. Watch the keynote, it was introduced quite extensively. Apple's own information pages are usually not exactly helpful, but googling "Force Touch" yields this for example.
 
I think it works like a digital scale..

force-touch-tech.jpg

force-touch-and-gasket.jpg
 
mac.cali said:
Looking forward to this. After a while the iPhone/iOS feels stale.
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I agree, was thinking this the other day. I like my iPhone 6 because it gets the job done, but it sort of feels like with each update, there is less and less personality to it. I remember back with iOS 6 and prior (before the sleek new design overhaul in iOS7), I felt a bit more connected to the UI. Now it's starting to feel a bit "stale" like you said.
 
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I don't see Force Touch as a big deal but it might be by lack of imagination. What uses would you guys see on iOS? On WatchOS, screen size is an issue so it's useful to bring the additional options. It doesn't even matter where you click, and there are only two sensitivities, on and off. It mainly acts as a third button in the current implementation in most if not all apps. I don't see it as useful on iOS with the massive screen sizes and resolutions nowadays. Would it be precise enough for paintbrushing? For gaming purposes, like firing intensities and whatnots?
 
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I agree. The watch does not have the haptic engine and it feels strange doing the force touch.

SgtPepper12 said:
I wonder whether force touch includes the haptic feedback engine that is part of the new track pad.
That's probably the one thing that bothers me about the technology: You don't really know it's there. So what I see is that it will be triggered accidentally most of the time, but I don't know how it's going to work.
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FSMBP said:
Apple will just have another launch where supplies are heavily constrained :(
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This will probably always be the case so long as Apple's new products are pushing new technology. And I think it's in their best interest to make sure new products incorporate some kind of new whizbang, even if it means constrained supplies, or else it's not much of a new product.
 
When Apple announces the new iPhones with force touch won't they have to really explain why we need this in other words a really compelling reason why we need this in an iPhone.
 
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cloudness said:
I don't see Force Touch as a big deal but it might be by lack of imagination. What uses would you guys see on iOS? On WatchOS, screen size is an issue so it's useful to bring the additional options. It doesn't even matter where you click, and there are only two sensitivities, on and off. It mainly acts as a third button. I don't see it as useful on iOS with the massive screen sizes and resolutions nowadays. Would it be precise enough for paintbrushing? For gaming purposes, like firing intensities and whatnots?
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I see multiple purposes:

UI: Same as on OS X really, using force touch to trigger alternative context menus and whatnot (but I honestly don't like the idea of that). I think there's also the accelerated fast forwarding in videos by applying proportionally more force. All kind of continuous UI elements can be used by this instead of sliders. But I don't see much there.

Productivity: Writing, painting, velocity control with instruments (like the piano in garage band). This is where I see the real opportunities. There's lots of creative things you could do with this. This really makes the device a lot more expressive.

Games: You could use it as a control for games with some physics in it. There's a lot I can imagine there, though nothing that actually changes anything.

Health: Anger detection would be funny.
 
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SgtPepper12 said:
I wonder whether force touch includes the haptic feedback engine that is part of the new track pad.
That's probably the one thing that bothers me about the technology: You don't really know it's there. So what I see is that it will be triggered accidentally most of the time, but I don't know how it's going to work.
Click to expand...

In two months of wearing my Apple Watch every day, twelve hours a day, I've yet to trigger force touch accidentally. Not even once, let alone "most of the time."
 
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cloudness said:
I don't see Force Touch as a big deal but it might be by lack of imagination. What uses would you guys see on iOS? On WatchOS, screen size is an issue so it's useful to bring the additional options. It doesn't even matter where you click, and there are only two sensitivities, on and off. It mainly acts as a third button in the current implementation in most if not all apps. I don't see it as useful on iOS with the massive screen sizes and resolutions nowadays. Would it be precise enough for paintbrushing? For gaming purposes, like firing intensities and whatnots?
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well its like another button.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Don't think we'll see it this time around. (6s)

50 million in 4 months is 12.5 million to be produced p. month
416,000 a day (30 days rounded)

Not going further into how many production lines and shifts, just can't see it in time for September
shipments.
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But we still can get September online preorders and December shipments.
 
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CarlosQG said:
Oh boy, should I upgrade to this or wait for the "iPhone 7"? iOS 9 is still compatible with my 4S so I can't decide if it's prudent or not.
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It is far too soon to say if the iP7 will initiate it like the original iPhone did, but my recommendation would be to wait for the next wave of innovation.
 
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topmounter said:
It is far too soon to say if the iP7 will initiate it like the original iPhone did, but my recommendation would be to wait for the next wave of innovation.
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My take is the iPhone 7 will be a radical break from the current form factor as we saw from the 5 to the 6. Sure lots of stuff is cooking in the Bomb Shelter as we are on this thread.
 
the-msa said:
well its like another button.
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That's how I see it. Sort of like a quick tap is a left click, a force touch is like a right click that brings up other options given the screen that is currently in focus. But as the other fellow says, it is not quite as flexible as a mouse because, so it seems, it has no awareness of X,Y position on the screen. It's only reference is the app that is currently in the active space and all you get is binary on/off action. So I guess for everytime you used an app and wished you had another input option .... to some degree you can now have it. It is useful on the AW for making program adjustments. If nothing else it will save a trip to the settings window for many apps. We'll have to wait and see how designers really leverage it into meaningful work flow.
 
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