It might be time to start saying goodbye to 3D Touch on the iPhone. Apple is reportedly thinking of giving the feature the ax next year.
To recall, 3D Touch was introduced with the iPhone 6S back in 2015. 3 years later, it still hasn’t caught on as much as it should have. It’s still a somewhat unknown tool among the general public and apps haven’t really come up with creative ways to utilize it.
Apple Ditching 3D Touch
It’s possible that Apple is taking this into consideration and permanently killing the tool off. Barclays (via MacRumors) claims that it’s “widely understood” that 3D Touch is going to be removed from OLED iPhones in 2019. However, it’s cautioning that these plans aren’t finalized yet and may still change.
Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had previously claimed that 3D Touch is not going to be present in the budget 6.1-inch LCD iPhone 9 this year. Putting two and two together, it looks 3D Touch will stick around for one more year with the iPhone X (2018) and iPhone X Plus, but vanish completely next year.
The research note doesn’t explain why Apple is doing this. The company poured a lot of time and effort into perfecting the technology, but consumer response has admittedly been less than enthusiastic. Perhaps it’s better to admit defeat and incorporate some new technology instead of carrying the same old one further.
Also Read: Apple gives up all-OLED plan for 2019 iPhones
Barclays has some bad news for folks waiting for the AirPods 2 as well. The wireless earbuds are apparently going to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2019. Bloomberg had previously said that a refreshed AirPods with a new wireless chip and Hey Siri support is coming in 2018 and a water resistant model is going to launch in 2019.
The Barclays report predicts that Apple will launch a cheaper HomePod in 2019 with broader appeal. The brand has notably managed to sell fewer than 5 million units of the smart speaker since January 2018. Some say a Siri-compatible Beats speaker might be in the works at around $149 to $199 (roughly Rs 10450 to Rs 13957).
There’s also some talk about the new iPhones supporting pen input. Some say this year’s iPhones will support the Apple Pencil, other say they won’t. Maybe Apple is hoping to distract people away from 3D Touch in 2019 by adding stylus input, swapping one expensive screen technology for another.