Cupertino claims that the traditional tactile feedback systems are able to offer a user the ability to interact with a device via touch or contact, but with the multi-tiered haptics system, it might allow a future device’s touchscreen display to actually deform into a button, an arrow, or perhaps even a geological map with 3D depth (something that seems to jump right out from Stark Industries). It would also see one or more arrays of shape-changing elements in order to deliver the complete tactile interaction via an elastic screen interface.
Now, I would imagine the kind of programming involved across the board to get something like that going on a large scale, not to mention the amount of work the processor has to do, in addition to the battery power required to keep such a system going. It is going to take some time before a multi-tiered haptics system becomes an everyday reality, so we will just keep our fingers crossed. Image courtesy of PatentlyApple.