Samsung Galaxy Note 8 to come with force touch/3D touch?

As the debut of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 draws near, the rumor storm intensifies. Today, we came across a report from the Korean media The Investor (citing ET News) that claims the new Note will come with a feature we’re somewhat familiar with.

According to the rumor, the Galaxy Note 8 may boast force touch, also known as 3D touch, capabilities. This is the technology that can detect the amount of pressure that is applied to a touchscreen, allowing the device to perform different actions depending on how hard the user presses. The classic example of this is using force touch to zoom into a specific part of an image, with the level of pressure determining how far you zoom in.

The feature was first introduced by Apple in 2014 alongside the Apple Watch. A revamped version of it, called 3D Touch, was later added to the iPhone 6S and all Apple handsets since, except for the iPhone SE.

According to the latest report, Samsung will employ similar technology to the Galaxy Note 8’s virtual home button. This would allow it to either function as a regular home button or open a shortcuts menu, depending on the force applied.

If this rumor proves to be true, it might kickstart the mainstream adoption of force touch on Android. So far, the closest we’ve gotten to it was on one of the HUAWEI Mate S models released a couple of years back, which also featured the technology (Android 7.1 Nougat introduced something similar with its app shortcuts, though this doesn’t rely on a pressure-sensitive display).

Would you like to see force touch on the Galaxy Note 8? Or is it overrated? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.