Apple should definitely copy Microsoft's incredible finger-sensing smartphone technology
Apple could learn a thing or two from this very cool Microsoft Research project, showing a design for "precognitive touch screens."
Basically, Microsoft built a "self-capacitive touch screen," which is fancy-pants science talk for a phone that can sense when your fingers are nearby and display the controls you need, right when you need them.
The video, posted in late April 2016, explains it best:
It's a pretty jaw-dropping concept (and similar to Project Soli technology that Google is developing). Microsoft calls it "pre-touch."
Beyond even those examples, the video shows all kinds of other potential here.
YouTube/BI Screenshot
Like many projects out of the Microsoft Research labs, "pre-touch" screens may never see the light of day - though CEO Satya Nadella has made a point of fast-tracking certain sci-fi technologies into real commercial products.
Meanwhile, Microsoft's phone business is struggling, so we may never see it in a Windows 10 Mobile device. But if Apple is paying attention this could be an amazing addition to the iPhone, even if we might have to wait for the iPhone 8 or 9.