Along with the big news from earlier this week that Apple is reportedly developing an iPhone model with a curved display came reports of a new pressure sensitive touch sensor that can determine how hard or soft you're pressing your device's touch screen.
Now a patent describing a "button" that is not only touch sensitive but can detect multiple levels of pressure has been found. According to Apple Insider, the new input method is more advanced than anything else available today.
Apple first unveiled the multitouch-capable iPhone in 2007. It offered users a new way to interact with portable electronics. Since then the company has made a number of advancements such as software enhancements that allow the iPad and iPad mini to recognize and ignore accidental contact like the brush of a thumb or elbow. Despite these innovations, this would be the first thing to greatly impact how users interface with the device since 2007.
The most recent rumors suggest that the company is working on a pressure-sensitive touchscreen that can trigger UI functions based on how hard a user is pressing the glass. Such a system is described in the company's latest granted patent. However, that patent has to do with a physical button. That is, with the exception of a notation buried near the end of the document that points to a touch screen that is coupled with an actuator that can be considered "a touch-sensitive depressible button."
The U.S. Patent No. 8,581,870 for "Touch-sensitive button with two levels," Apple may be on the cusp of introducing a new form of input that could change the way people interact with their iOS.
There are a number of potential ways to implement this new technology but it appears that Apple is still hard at work in the development phase. It's unclear as of now if this technology is destine for next year's iPhone 6 or if it will be slated for a future product.
