Samsung might finally give pressure sensitive displays a try with the Galaxy S8
Pressure sensitivity is the kind of smartphone featured we expected someone like Samsung to popularize, but we all know it was Apple’s iPhone that did it. Even in the Android world, Huawei was first to market with a phone with such a thing.
But the South Korean giant could finally be coming around. According to The Investor, Samsung has been tapped as the supplier of pressure-sensitive displays for the iPhone, reason being that this is the first time an iPhone has used OLED, the technology for which Samsung is the sole supplier. As such, it’s kind of forcing their hand to finally put some weight behind pressure sensitivity.
In fact, they are putting so much weight behind it that the Galaxy S8 is said to be using it in some way. The device will supposedly use pressure sensitivity for the device’s on-screen navigation buttons, specifically the home button.
We’re not sure what sort of options Samsung would enable based on how hard you press it. Our guess is they could make a hard press activate Google Assistant or Bixby, but that’s nothing that an old-fashioned long-press couldn’t handle.
And this is supposedly just the start, with the company said to be working on full-display functionality for their phones as soon as the launch of the Note 8.
It’s an exciting prospect, if only because Samsung’s usage of the tech may eventually convince others to use it if they see an inherent benefit. Apple usually has that sort of influence and they haven’t convinced many other smartphone makers to play copycat yet, but it could be due to technological deficiencies or sheer availability issues. Whatever the case may be, a whole lot more of these displays are about to be available this year, so let’s see who bites.