Apple Patents MacBook Touch Bar with Force Touch Capabilities

Apple has reportedly filed for a patent to integrate Force Touch into the MacBook Touch Bar after it ditched pressure sensing technology on its smartphones and smartwatches. And honestly, given the chain of more and more niche restart in recent years, I say why not.

On Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released a patent application that features an updated version of the MacBook Touch Bar, as spotted Mac 9to5 and Obviously Apple. The new version looks virtually identical to the current version, except for additional circuitry that adds Force Touch capabilities, indicating that we may see more features next year. MacBooks redesigned (outside of the trackpad, that is).

Force Touch is Apple’s haptic feedback technology that can sense subtle changes in pressure and react differently depending on how hard you press your device. The company started integrating it into the MacBook trackpad in 2015 to retain all of the functionality of a traditional trackpad without the need for mechanical buttons. Apple added the feature to its iPhones in the same year as 3D Touch, but it was later dropped and replaced by Haptic Touch, a less sensitive version which has emptied much of the capabilities of its predecessor, starting with the iPhone 11 series. line of smartwatches included Force Touch from the very first model until the company abruptly support abandoned with watchOS 7 earlier this year.

That’s why it raises some eyebrows to see Apple doubling down on functionality with its laptop series after the company ditched it elsewhere. The patent, originally filed by Apple in May 2019, does not specify how Force Touch would work on the MacBook’s touch bar, although, as 9to5 Mac points out, it could be used to prevent accidental taps, an annoyance for users of the MacBook. MacBook. complained about for years That much.

For now, Apple only includes the Touch Bar on its high-end laptop model, the MacBook Pro. The small OLED touchscreen replaces the strip of programmable function keys at the top of a traditional keyboard, Apple’s idea being that the touch bar allows users to configure more elaborate shortcuts and functions than just any key. unique mechanics.

At least that was the idea. In practice, users complain that they never use the thing, or if they do it’s a frustrating accident. After introducing the Touch Bar in 2016, Apple didn’t reiterate the product in any meaningful way, and its primary property on the keyboard makes inadvertent triggering too easy to do. Adding more sophisticated haptic feedback technology could certainly help on that front, so Apple could very well bank on Force Touch to inject new hype for the feature after letting it languish for the past few years.