South Korean conglomerate Samsung has just picked up a patent titled “Touch display apparatus sensing touch force”, and while it must be noted that such force-sensing touchscreen displays have been in existence already, the majority of them tend to require a separate force-sensitive sensor which in turn would increase the display’s production cost, whether you like it or not. That is the way things work, and hopefully, with this patent that has been awarded to Samsung, we could see a future where this extra sensor is removed. Apparently, Samsung wants to implement a small force-sensing processor right into the display itself.
This particular processor will be accompanied by an electrode resistor as well as a reference resistor, where the both of them will be hooked up to several extremely thin layers of piezoresistive materials (which could comprise of either graphene or carbon nanotube), offering varying resistances. Of course, these layers will be located within the display itself. The moment your finger presses against the display, these very same layers will offer the miniature on-display chip relevant information concerning the touch input, where the processor will then figure out whether it is a soft or hard touch. I can foresee games making good use of such capability, what do you think?