“In the fall of 2015, Apple introduced the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. One of the big new features that Apple included in these devices was a technology that the company called 3D Touch,” Ashraf Eassa writes for The Motley Fool. “Although Apple marketed the feature heavily with the introduction of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, and it has been included on every subsequent flagship iPhone, the feature doesn’t appear to have been the paradigm-shifting technology that Apple had hoped it would be.”
“Indeed, according to generally reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo with KGI Securities, Apple’s upcoming iPhone with a 6.1-inch liquid crystal display — the device that Kuo expects to be Apple’s best-selling iPhone in the coming product cycle — won’t include the technology,” Eassa writes. “This is a sensible cost-cutting measure, especially considering that 3D Touch adds additional components, design complexity, and manufacturing challenges, but it’s going to create some awkwardness in Apple’s product offerings.”
“The problem arises when we consider that once Apple launches new iPhone models later this year, it’ll likely continue to sell the older generation iPhone 7 series and iPhone 8 series devices at reduced prices,” Eassa writes. “The problem, then, is that Apple’s latest mass-market iPhone, which Kuo expects to be priced at between $700 and $800, will lack a feature that the discounted, older models will have. ”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If 3D Touch isn’t a “paradigm-shifting technology,” there really isn’t any problem. Joe and Jane Sixpack wouldn’t know 3D Touch if it knocked them upside the head. They don’t know they have it and therefore won’t miss it if it disappears. The general public is not going to buy an iPhone for 3D Touch or eschew an iPhone for lack thereof. If they want to view Live Photos (which is the feature for which the average person uses 3D Touch most often) they can simply touch and hold instead, like users of older non-3D Touch devices do.
Of course, we use 3D Touch all day long on our iPhone X units. We just asked a random mom if she uses 3D Touch on her iPhone 7 Plus and she answered with a question, “What’s ‘3D Touch,’ again?”
SEE ALSO:
Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple’s next-gen Apple 6.1-inch iPhone will not offer 3D Touch – January 23, 2018
Why iPad Pro doesn’t have iPhone’s 3D Touch – June 16, 2017
OLED iPhone 3D Touch modules cost 60% more than current iPhone’s, sources say – March 14, 2017
