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The sketchy iPhone 6 rumors keep coming – haptic feedback & 68M orders

haptic

GforGames is citing Chinese site Laoyaoba and Taiwanese site Business Weekly for a couple of sketchy iPhone 6 rumors.

First, that the new iPhone will use haptic feedback – using a more sophisticated vibration motor to provide simulated tactile feedback on the display. This report is extremely light on detail, stating only that the motors are made by AAC (an existing Apple supplier) and Jinlong Electrical, and that they cost around two to three times the 60 cent cost of the vibration motor used in the iPhone 5s and 5c … 

A typical use of haptic feedback is to attempt to make pressing an on-screen button feel something like pressing a physical one, but a 2009 Apple patent described something rather more sophisticated: simulating the feel of different types of surface as your finger moves across the screen. From the 2009 report:

Apple’s plan is to have a “grid of piezoelectronic actuators that can be activated on command. By fluctuating the frequency of these actuators, the user will “feel” different surfaces as their finger moves across it.

As always, it’s worth noting that Apple holds patents for a huge number of technologies that never make it into products. We’re putting this rumor into the extremely sketchy category for now.

Second, that Apple has placed orders for an initial run of 68M iPhone 6 handsets. To put this into context, that would be a third more than its initial order for the iPhone 5s.

It’s not a totally outrageous figure – given what appears to be a dramatically different design and likely pent-up demand for larger screens, we’d expect the iPhone 6 to sell well. Business Insider noted back in May that Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said that her supply-chain sources were reporting a 20 percent increase to 61.2M, so this new suggestion isn’t completely out there.

But nobody appears to have heard of the source, so this one too has to go into the distinctly sketchy category.

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Comments

  1. Ah.. haptic feedback again.

    I was wondering when will this one be back. I think it was originally rumored for 4S?

  2. aminebaj - 10 years ago

    If this time, by any chance, the rumor turns out to be real, it will for sure be a killer feature

    • Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

      Nah, it’s a “barely works” gimmick type feature on every device that’s ever attempted it. This report is pure speculation also. Apple’s own patent would require multiple linear motors installed throughout the phone which is both cost prohibitive, would change the whole design of the phone and given the result, a waste of time.

      All that’s happened that even this report is actually claiming is real, is that Apple may have switched back to a more robust, linear vibrator. At most this means perhaps more subtle vibrations or perhaps a repertoire of a couple of different vibration types.

      • Xavier Poirot (@dalaen) - 10 years ago

        I’m glad to see we have a pure engineer here. Have you designed the iPhone 7 yet?

      • David Kamedulski - 10 years ago

        I agree, not likely. Pure speculation. But fingerprint tech was a “barely works” gimmick on other devices prior to 5s.

  3. Lars Pallesen - 10 years ago

    They have found an Apple patent and mindlessly assumes that means we’ll see this technology in the next iPhone. We won’t. Nothing to see here.

  4. jedimindtrick99 - 10 years ago

    By the looks of the sapphire cover, doesn’t seem the haptic feed back with the ‘grid of piezoelectronic actuators’ doesn’t really seem that possible with the stiffness of the cover, I personally rather have another feature that uses less battery power

  5. SteveZ (@nerdAFK) - 10 years ago

    Show me some better American rumours then.

  6. claytonkimball - 10 years ago

    If anyone were to perfect the implementation of the technology I would expect it to be Apple. Every claim of “haptic feedback” to this point has seemed to be a rudimentary delayed vibration at a button press. To be effective I would expect complete elimination of delay and soohisticated variation in vibrations that suggest various textures.

  7. I think its safe to say that Apple probably has hundreds of “crazy” ideas floating around their R&D, assuming they will all be for iPhone 6 is nuts. They are probably already starting on features for iPhone 10.

  8. Having this on a device like this, made by apple, could be really really annoying.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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