Synaptics announces ClearForce pressure-sensitive screen technology, expects force-enabled smartphones to ship early 2016
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat :
Context & Ripple Effects
A week after Apple shipped the iPhone 6s's "3D Touch" three-level pressure display, Synaptics is answering on the Android side with ClearForce, a pressure-sensitive screen technology it expects in shipping phones by early 2016. As the merchant touch-controller supplier, Synaptics is positioning itself to give every Android OEM what Apple built in-house.
The announcement extends a busy 2015 for the company: June brought SmartBar capacitive touch for the keyboard spacebar, and ClearForce now pushes force sensing from peripherals onto the main display.
First-order effects
- Android handset makers gain an off-the-shelf path to pressure-sensitive displays without replicating Apple's vertically integrated hardware work, with force-enabled devices targeted for early 2016.
- Apple's 3D Touch loses its status as a unique differentiator; pressure becomes a spec both platforms can check.
Second-order effects
- App developers face a split ecosystem where press-depth gestures must be implemented twice against different APIs, or skipped on one platform.
- Rival component makers are pushed to match force sensing across the input stack, a race that shows up downstream when [[a:917731|Synaptics' 2017 fingerprint sensor ships with force detection, swipe gestures, and software navigation buttons]] built in.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, force sensitivity stops being a headline feature and becomes table stakes across the entire input chain — display, home button, even keyboard — consolidating advantage around suppliers like Synaptics who can bundle it everywhere rather than single-point vendors.
- Interface differentiation shifts from hardware exclusivity toward software: whoever owns the gesture vocabulary and developer tooling around pressure captures the value the components commoditize.
The trend: Pressure sensing is spreading from Apple's proprietary displays into commodity touch components, turning a flagship differentiator into a standard input layer across Android.