A new Apple patent application suggests the company could bring pressure-sensing Force Touch to the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar. The filing, published by the US Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday and spotted by Patently Apple, describes circuitry that detects different levels of force applied to the secondary display strip. It points to a more responsive Touch Bar, though Apple has not confirmed any product plans.
What the Apple patent application shows
The patent application describes an upgraded Touch Bar that supports Force Touch through new circuits designed to sense how hard a user presses. According to the filing, the technology would sit beneath the existing OLED strip above the keyboard, the same area today's MacBook Pro uses for multitasking shortcuts.
The abstract spells out how the hardware would be constructed: The secondary display and force-sensing circuitry may be encapsulated between two glass layers that are bonded to one another by a frit. In some embodiments, the force-sensing circuitry is formed from or constitutes part of, the frit. Apple filed the application in May 2019.
For context, this filing comes from Apple, which has steadily expanded its pressure-sensing technology across its product lines.
How Force Touch has evolved at Apple
Apple introduced Force Touch on the first-generation Apple Watch in September 2014. The technology then reached the iPhone as 3D Touch and arrived on the Mac through an all-new trackpad in 2015.
Over the years, Apple has revised the original approach and eventually transformed it into Haptic Touch for newer iPhone models. The underlying purpose has stayed the same: triggering specific features when a user presses and holds on the screen.
Key milestones
- September 2014 - Force Touch debuts on the first-generation Apple Watch.
- 2015 - The technology arrives on the MacBook family via an all-new trackpad.
- iPhone era - Force Touch reaches phones as 3D Touch, later reworked into Haptic Touch.
- May 2019 - Apple files the patent application covering a Force Touch Touch Bar.
What remains unclear
A patent application is not a product announcement, and several details are still open. It is unclear whether the upgrade would appear across all new MacBook Pro models or be limited to a particular variant.
Some reports have suggested redesigned MacBook models could arrive in 2021, but there is no confirmation that any of them would carry the new Force Touch Touch Bar. It is also uncertain whether the Touch Bar will stay exclusive to the MacBook Pro or eventually reach the MacBook Air.
