Force Touch

The iPhone is about to get significantly more touchy-feely -- although in a good way. Very credible rumours say the 6S will come with the same kind of Force Touch that’s found in both the latest MacBook Pro trackpad and the Apple Watch, which is to say you can tap to do one thing, and push more firmly for something else.
If Apple can manage to shrink the technology down to fit in a wristwatch then we’re pretty sure putting it in an iPhone presents no challenges. Despite this some rumours say Force Touch could make the next iPhone models marginally thicker but, whatever the case, Apple was always going to have a hard time bettering the astonishingly slim iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
However, some reports suggest Force Touch will only feature in the larger iPhone 6S Plus model - something that would create a feature division not present in the current iPhone range, separated as they are only by screen size, battery life and camera stabilisation. Force Touch only in the iPhone 6S Plus would turn it into a flagship device, rather than just a larger version of the standard model, and would surely indicate Apple’s priorities lie with larger rather than smaller devices (see also iPad Pro rumours).
The coolest thing about Force Touch is that it’ll advance touch interface possibilities, which since the first iPhone in 2007 have been limited to simple taping, swiping and multitouch. Despite such constraints, developers and game makers in particular have produced some astonishingly clever apps -- so imagine what more can be done if pressing the screen in various ways is added to the mix. Is it time for the touch-based interface to graduate to being a serious computing platform?
Read next: iPhone 6s review | iPhone 6s Plus review