Those that are not power iOS users probably won’t remember 3D Touch or perhaps they would rather not remember. For quite some time now, it has been clear that what Apple thought to be the ‘next generation of multi-touch’ in the 2015 unveiling most definitely wasn’t. The typical iPhone user would probably just become annoyed by it because it would get in the way of what they were actually trying to do.
3D Touch was actually Apple’s way of making a keyboard shortcut of multi-touch, which can only be dubbed as a secret weapon meant only for nerds. Those pro geeks out there were probably pretty excited to be able to find out the secrets of the 3D Touch’s hidden depths which meant endless delight for them. Shaving microseconds which are highly important in their highly complicated workflows gave them a reason to rejoice, for sure.
Everyone else, however, tries to ignore it or at least they are trying to do so. Because as soon as they found themselves in the middle of doing something important they accidentally triggered the feature, which gave rise to feelings of confusion and annoyance because they couldn’t understand what their phones were trying to do to them.
Those that consider themselves tech veterans might still remember the one-off weirdo BlackBerry Storm. If you recall, BlackBerry tried to do something as misplaced as the 3D Touch almost ten years ago on one of its devices, which meant that it would feature an unloved clickable touchscreen. The Storm didn’t display the iconic physical keyboard which made BlackBerry famous, instead, it came with a touchscreen and qwerty keys which appeared on-screen, so you could still click them. But of course, this madness didn’t work.
iPhone XR
As you can imagine the Storm didn’t cause any storming of shops by customers who looked to acquire the BlackBerry Storm unless you are talking about the storm of people that demanded their device to be replaced with another handset. Returning to Apple’s 3D Touch, this is a little bit easier on the company, being far from BlackBerry’s blunder.
However, after it released the 3D Touch feature three years ago, Apple feels the need to confess about its own feature error. How is it doing so? Well, let’s say the by dropping it completely from the cheapest of the trio. The iPhone XR won’t feature the technology that senses pressure at all. By not including the 3D Touch into the XR, Apple will save some money from the manufacturing cost and maybe we are going to see a thinner device as a result.
Although, we should agree that, mostly, this maneuver is Apple’s way of admitting that it spent a lot of money and engineering power on something that most of the iPhone users don’t need nor use and, how Brian Heater from TC has put it, it is now given that the iPhone XR is the iPhone for the rest of users.
Don’t consider it a budget handset, though because the XR is packing the next generation biometric technology, Apple’s Face ID. This is just an example to showcase how the device contains a package of complicated and sophisticated sensor hardware placed in its own top notch. This is a clear sign that the Californian company didn’t take the cheap road. Instead, we should admit that Apple is taking a selective decision so that certain features are used based on what it is believed that users need and want.
By following this train of thought, the evidence shows that the people at Cupertino calculated that a lot of iPhone users either don’t need or don’t want the 3D Touch. At the opposing end, we have the Face ID feature which kept the company in high praise during an event which took place earlier this week, which is an indication that this technology has proven to be extremely popular with users.
Comparing the two features should allow for an easy figuring out why 3D Touch was left behind. Face ID is popular because it is difficult to think about another interaction which would be simpler than a look to unlock, while 3D Touch requires something trickier to utilize.