iOS 13 Suggests Apple Will Kill 3D Touch in the iPhone 11

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Last year, Apple released the iPhone XR, a cheaper version of the iPhone XS. It had an LCD screen, only one rear camera, and no 3D Touch. It also lacked Apple’s insane $1,000 price tag, coming in at “just” $749 (still insanely expensive for this device). In April, a reliable analyst, Ming Chi-Kuo predicted that Apple would abandon 3D Touch. Then, Apple revealed iOS 13. The OS brought a number of features that were formerly only for 3D Touch phones to the iPad and iPhone XR. However, they still can’t duplicate peek and pop or text selection, and that’s why killing off 3D Touch would be a huge mistake. This is a feature people with the iPhone XS and knowledge of this feature use daily. It’s a huge reason I upgraded to an iPhone 6s.

And it’s why I wouldn’t buy an iPhone 11 without 3D Touch.

So let’s get into why we believe Apple may remove this feature, and why that’s a terrible idea.

Evidence for Apple Removing 3D Touch

Besides Ming Chi-Kuo’s prediction, there are some significant pieces of evidence to back this theory. First, Apple introduced the iPhone XR, the first new iPhone to lack 3D or even Force Touch since the iPhone SE. Ming Chi-Kuo isn’t alone anymore either. A team of Barclays analysts told MacRumors the same thing in May.

But the biggest piece of evidence came when Apple introduced iOS 13. That’s actually when I started outlining this article (it’s been a long few weeks). While watching Apple’s preview for the upcoming OS, all I could think of was the fact that they were clearly trying to replace 3D Touch features with “Haptic Touch,” which is Apple’s fancy name for “a long press with a small vibration.”

iOS 13 Haptic Touch Features

Haptic Touch is to 3D Touch as Control + Click is to Right Click. Sure, they can do a few of the same interactions, but in games or professional software for video, photo, rendering, or code editing, control + click can’t replace a right click. Can you live with just control + click? Sure. But it’s going to be awful.

Haptic Touch is like moving with an injury, like a broken ankle. Sure, you’ve gotten pretty good with crutches, but as good as walking or running? Nope.

So what can Haptic Touch do in iOS 13? With a long press, you can do the peek part of the peak and pop gesture gesture that’s the iOS equivalent of quick look. Of course, it’s not as fast as 3D Touch. You can also long press links to see where the link will go. You just can’t open it with a little bit more pressure, you’ll have to let go, then re-load everything by tapping on the link. It’s incredibly inconvenient. You can also now long press on an app icon to show app shortcuts. Of course, this also means moving around your icons is about to get more difficult and time consuming.

Every new feature of Haptic Touch hurts other features and is a pale reflection of the 3D Touch features it imitates. It’s a cheapened experience, and users aren’t going to prefer it.

Counterpoint: Apple’s Just Making a Better iPhone XR/iPad

There is another theory here. Perhaps Apple’s just trying to make the iPhone XR and iPad better so the lack of force touch doesn’t differentiate them too much. It’s possible that Apple’s just trying to make a better product.

This could still mean that Apple’s looking to remove it from a future iPhone flagship, but perhaps not from the iPhone 11. Perhaps they’re only thinking of removing it from iPhones in the more distant future, after they’ve removed the connotations of “cheap phones don’t have 3D Touch.” If they can remove the idea that cheap phones are the only ones without 3D Touch, they can remove the feature from a flagship phone. That’s going to take at least a year with many of the 3D Touch features reflected in a cheaper device. It seems to be that Apple’s still planning to take away this vital feature soon.

Why This Idea Bites

Loss of Functionality

Haptic touch does not work on the buttons on the lock screen for the flashlight or camera, which means they activate accidentally more often on these devices. The peek gesture is now supported in iOS 13 by long touches, but that means you can’t take your time peeking at something before it loads anyway. You’ll also have to re-load the content if you actually want to open it. It defeats the “quick” purpose of peeking and popping.

But the worst thing is text selection. I’ve written about this before. Text selection in iOS is so much better than anything on Android. Part of that is from the 3D Touch options. You can move the cursor with a harder press, but this feature is emulated by the iPhone XR with a tap and hold on the space bar before moving around. However, moving the cursor is just the first part. On the iPhone XS, or any device with 3D Touch, you can hover over a word, press harder again to select it, and then move the selection around, as you would on a computer. Once you learn the gesture, it’s the most intuitive thing ever, and makes text selection a breeze. 3D Touch takes a feature that is a nightmare on the iPhone XR and iPad, as well as every other Android device, and makes it simple and intuitive.

If Apple eliminates it, it’ll be the dumbest thing they’ve done since they fired Steve Jobs.

Loss of Value

Apple has removed 3D Touch from phones that are cheaper alternatives to their flagships. Phones without it are the low-end iPhones. Even the iPad has some level of pressure sensitivity through the Apple Pencil. Plus, Mac trackpads all use pressure sensitivity for clicking and force clicking. Devices without the feature are cheap.

If Apple takes this feature out of their flagship phones, they’re going to cheapen the brand. I wouldn’t buy an iPhone that costs more than $600 without 3D Touch. It’s such an important and valuable feature, yes, but it also reflects the quality and value of the device. Without 3D Touch, consumers will permanently brand the phone as a cheap iPhone, not a flagship device.

Apple’s Killing 3D Touch… and Their Brand

Apple will cheapen their products without 3D Touch. They’ll pull a vital part of their product to save some money. The iPhone is far too expensive to accept a price cut at the cost of vital features. Especially since it opens the door for Android phones to include force sensitive features at a far lower price. This is the kind of thing that damages a brand in the long term, years down the road. It’s a decision that will make Apple’s goal of selling luxury products far more difficult. Apple’s not only hurting consumers, they’re hurting themselves.

Let’s hope everyone’s wrong.