Apple's iPhone 11 Pro axes 3D Touch in favor of Haptic Touch

By Brandon Russell
published

iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple's latest iPhone lineup features Haptic Touch, not 3D Touch.
  • Haptic Touch was first introduced with last year's iPhone XR.
  • 3D Touch was a fixture of the iPhone since the iPhone 6s.

Last year, the iPhone XR introduced a feature called Haptic Touch, which provides users with haptic feedback to a long press. Little did we know that the feature would become Apple's preference in the new iPhone 11 Pro.

During Apple's "By Innovation Only" keynote, the company briefly mentioned Haptic Touch as one of the key features in the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro. One look at the technical specifications for Apple's high-end iPhone models confirms the devices do indeed feature Haptic Touch.

Before today's event, there were rumors Apple would ditch 3D Touch, and they turned out to be true.

When Apple introduced 3D Touch with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, it allowed users to to use multiple levels of pressure to execute certain functions. Press hard on Apple's Camera app icon, for example, and it showed a menu of quick actions.

Haptic Touch essentially works the same way but doesn't measure pressure. Instead, you use a long press.

Apple's latest iPhone models will be available to preorder on Friday, September 13 and launch on September 20.

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Brandon Russell
Brandon Russell
5 Comments
  • Yes I will absolutely miss it
  • I won't miss it one jot. It was always temperamental and made rearranging apps a right fiddle. It does amuse me how Apple have to brand all of the features on their handsets, especially when, like this one, it's basically what Android has had for some time.
  • Temperamental? You must've had a faulty model, its always worked on my iPhone 7 and XS. It did make rearranging apps a pain at first, but then Apple made it so it ignores the 3d touch so long as you don't press too hard. I'll be sad to see it go but it's not a dealbreaker
  • I must have had four faulty models. Good riddance to a solution looking for a problem.
  • It was never looking for a problem. For the users that used it, they loved it, 3D Touch's only problem was that it was a highly unknown feature because Apple did a poor job at advertising it, which is why they're getting rid of it.