Why the iPhone XR doesn’t have 3D Touch?

Apple wrote a long page to introduce its 3D Touch technology since it was applied in its iPhone 6S in 2015. Now, three years after, the 3D Touch didn’t get improved and not as popular as former Multi Touch did. The cheaper iPhone XR even phases 3D Touch out its specs, replacing with Haptic Touch. So what might be the reason behind the failure of 3D Touch?

Why the iPhone XR doesn’t have 3D Touch?

As the most potential iPhone to sell the largest volume, the iPhone XR, however, is the only one that missed the 3D Touch out among the 2018 iPhone bunch. It is reasonable to think that Apple wants to cut cost by giving up the Technology, while, there are more reasons accounting for the fate of 3D Touch.

People don’t know 3D Touch

“I know Apple has 3D Touch when it is gone in iPhone XR!” one of my friend said when we were comparing the specs of iPhone XR and iPhone XS. The fact is most of Apple users don’t really know the existence of 3D Touch except the name itself. Or they just recognize “Long Press with feedback” as 3D Touch technology. As 3D Touch is a kind of technology that integrated of Multi Touch and Force Touch, people rarely use it when they work fine with the gestures they are familiar with. To this circumstance, 3D Touch has become an unnecessary function.

Not all App support 3D Touch but no indicator to tell

Another reason might be the missing indication of which App can use 3D Touch. The best of 3D Touch is the shortcut it provides to preview the contents of the app you want to access, however, if you have to test one by one to find out whether it support shortcut or not, then it seems to not “shortcut” at all. After all, the “road” between open the app to see the content and preview the content without entering into the app is not that long.

I know 3D Touch, but it is wield and fussy to use

As mentioned before, 3D Touch is kind of an integration of Multi Touch and Force Touch. It responds differently according to the pressure you exerted to the screen and also performs accordingly with different gestures. There is no clear line between hard pressure and harder pressure, long press and hard press, so it is annoying when you can’t get the access you want with so many try. The more this situation happens, the less you want to use it.

Relevent: The iPhone XR shows how unnecessary 3D Touch has always been.

As a replacement of 3D Touch, the Haptic Touch seems to be a smarter try. But new name represents new technology?

What’s the difference between 3D Touch and Haptic Touch?

“Haptic” means when you tap or press an app icon it will give you a feedback, here in Haptic Touch, the feedback refers to a vibration. However, you can also get feedback from 3D Touch. The main difference between 3D Touch and Haptic Touch may lies on the shortcutting preview “pop-up” that 3D Touch can provide when you hard press the compatible app icon, while the Haptic Touch can’t. The 3D Touch is based on the pressure sensitivity system imbedded in the display, but Haptic Touch is more like Multi Touch but with a trackpad mode. In Cult Of Mac, it is even described as “a long press with a vibration”.

For specific difference, it’s more practical to notice with a demonstration. You can click here to know the details.