14 DAY TRIAL // Apple could give up on 3D Touch entirely with this year’s generation, as the company is looking into ways to cut costs, according to a report.
The pressure-sensitive display has been a part of Apple’s iPhone feature lineup since the iPhone 6s, and it allows users to perform certain tasks faster by pressing harder of the screen.
As noticed by CultOfMac, a report from Wall Street Journal and citing sources familiar with the matter, Apple could remove 3D Touch completely on the 2019 iPhone generation because the company wants to cut costs more aggressively.
This means that all iPhones seeing daylight this year might come without 3D Touch, but instead rely on a software-based alternative that would provide this functionality.
A similar approach is already being used on the iPhone XR, but also on the majority of Android devices, and it’s likely that Apple would go in this direction with the 2019 iPhone family of products.
3D Touch to remain available on the Apple Watch
As per the cited source, Apple might not give up on 3D Touch on all of its products, but only on the iPhone, so other devices, like the Apple Watch, is very likely to continue coming with this feature on the next generations.
Apple is expected to launch three different iPhone models this year, all based on the 2018 generation. As a result, the company will debut upgraded iPhone XS and iPhone XS models, as well as a successor to the iPhone XR with an LCD screen.
This means the LCD version will continue to be offered for at least one more year, but people close to the matter said that beginning in 2020, Apple would switch entirely to OLED for the iPhone lineup. It remains to be seen if the company is ready to abandon 3D Touch in 2019, but at this point, all signs seem to be pointing this is very likely to happen.