Apple Supplier Reportedly Starts Production of Force Touch Modules for ‘iPhone 6s’

Apple’s touch panel suppliers allegedly began shipping Force Touch components in June, Digitimes reports. Citing supply chain sources, the Taiwanese site predicts shipments of up to 40 million iPhone units for the September quarter and about 50 million for the fourth calendar quarter.

Force Touch is one of the rumoured features of the next generation iPhone. Apple introduced this feature with the Apple Watch and implemented it in its MacBook line of computers. Its supplier, TPK expects widespread adoption of pressure sensors —which includes Forces Touch — this year, with significant growth in shipment volume next year.

TPK chief executive officer Michael Chung said the company is optimistic about demand for touch sensors, applications for the company’s open-cell touch display solution, fingerprint sensors, curved displays and new devices running on Microsoft’s new operating system Windows 10. “We believe that pressure sensors [for force touchpanels] will see widespread adoption across the mobile-device market this year,” Chung said according to Taipei Times.

The slightly thicker iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are expected to hit the market in the fall with the same screen sizes and featuring improvements such as 2GB of RAM, a 12 MP rear camera, and a much stronger housing made from the 7000 Series aluminum used for the Apple Watch Sport.