What’s all the fuss about haptics?

IFA – the annual consumer technology industry showcase that takes place every September in Berlin – was, as usual, chock full of launches and fresh innovation this year. One that caught our eye was Huawei’s revamped MateBook X Pro laptop. It boasts many great features, including a stunning chassis and impressive display, but the thing that will excite consumers most lays under the hood.

On the right track

Huawei has hopped on the bandwagon, joining the likes of Dell and Lenovo, with the inclusion of a haptic trackpad. It is packed with features, such as controlling brightness or volume, closing windows, or tapping with your knuckle to take a screenshot.

Haptic touch is a form of electronic feedback that uses tiny but precise surface movements to mimic sensations like pressing a button, tapping a key, or scrolling a screen.

Our client, Aito, is at the forefront of haptic innovation. Its technology is incredibly advanced, using twelve different points for detection and feedback that pinpoint the exact position and pressure of your finger and provide realistic sensations to match.

Aito’s haptic technology is also just 2.4mm thick, thinner than a mechanical pad. This helps laptop makers create slimmer designs or leaves more space for bigger batteries. As well as benefitting consumers, manufacturers stand to save huge amounts in manufacturing costs by harnessing the power of haptics. For example, creating devices that give multilingual consumers the chance to switch seamlessly between languages on one device.

Jumping-off point

So far, the tech has been limited to top-end consumer devices, though Aito’s CEO Nedko Ivanov expects it to reach mid-tier in the next two years.

Haptic technology does not have to stop at the laptop. As more screen surfaces enter our day-to-day lives, the more we will see haptics pop up – from mobile phones and games consoles to tablets, headphones, and cars – to help us better communicate with the digital world.