Rumor: Samsung plans to use Force Touch in the Galaxy S7

We still have a few months to go before Samsung releases the Galaxy S7, but there’s been a surprising amount of rumors surrounding the smartphone already. The latest rumor comes from China, where a leak posted to Weibo suggests that the company is planning to use something called ClearForce in it’s upcoming flagship, which is a technology developed by a company called Synaptics that functions in much the same way Apple’s Force Touch does. That means the Galaxy S7 will be able to distinguish between light and hard presses on its touch screen, which will double, or even triple the number of gestures that users can customize. 

A few days ago, we told you that laptop touchpad specialist Synaptics had unveiled what it calls the ClearPad 3700 force-sensing touchscreen controller, a solution it hopes to incorporate in many Android flagships next year. The company is calling the underlying technology ClearForce, and according to a leak coming out of Weibo (via Phone Arena), it has listed Samsung as one of its main partners for 2016. So you know what that means, the Galaxy S7 will probably take advantage of this new technology. Which makes a lot of sense given that Sammy’s arch rival Apple unveiled the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, both taking advantage of Cupertino’s own 3D Touch. Well, Clear Force is expected to behave in pretty much the same way, due to its ability to distinguish between light and hard presses. As you probably know, Huawei was the first to announce an Android smartphone taking advantage of Force Touch (as the Chinese device maker calls it). It’s dubbed the Mate S and bundles Synaptics’ 3700 series solution. Which explains why the phone hasn’t made an appearance in retail yet. As the company notes in its press release, the first smartphones bundling this technology are expected to make a debut in early 2016.