Interfaces between you and hardware are evolving beyond touch to things such as “force sensing,” says research firm IDTechEx, especially as augmented reality and virtual reality devices become more widely available.
“Since the mobile era, touch screens have been at the core of our user interface with electronic devices. However, as the technology behind touch interfaces begins to saturate, many players now look beyond touch to the future of user interfaces,” says James Hayward, technology analyst for U.K.-based IDTechEx.
“Whilst advanced solutions including voice and gesture detection, right through to perceptive computing are suggested, many suppliers are looking for the best ways to improve the existing platform. It is possible to literally add an additional dimension to touch interfaces by adding force sensing. This trend has been strongly visible from various market leaders throughout 2015 and 2016.”
The firm projects a $1.8 billion market for such force sensors by the year 2027.
Hayward notes that “force sensors themselves are certainly nothing new, and even their use within user interfaces dates back over 40 years where they were first used in musical instrument toys.”
But new trends are emerging.
“[W]ith many high profile consumer electronics products containing force sensing interfaces launched throughout 2015 (most notably from Apple, in their smartwatch, laptop and smartphone products), this has quickly dominated the market. As such, the user interface landscape is undergoing a period of significant change, with force sensing as a prominent early step,” he says.
The report notes that there is no “killer-app” in the consumer space – at least right now.
“However, as technology and markets mature, we expect that areas such as input controllers for VR and AR devices (building on an initial base from the games console controller space) and later as a user interfaces in the automotive spaces will drive growth to around $1.8bn in annual force sensor sales for user interfaces alone,” Hayward says.
Learn more at: IDTechEx Research report Force Sensors in User Interfaces 2017-2027 (www.IDTechEx.com/force).
