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April 29, 2013

Haptic Feedback Technology Market Set to Grow Briskly Thanks to Smartphones

You may not think about it much, but haptic feedback in your electronic devices has been growing in use. Haptic feedback, of course, is the technology that allows you to feel something with your fingers when you touch your smartphone’s screen: it could be a sense of movement or vibration, or even a bit of resistance. It’s anything that provides a sensory clue that you have just pushed a button.

Haptic effects (sometimes called touch or tactile feedback) are produced by actuators, which are essentially tiny motors, built into devices to create vibrations. The goal is to leave the phone’s user with the impression that he or she has just “clicked” a button that really works just by touch.

The widespread and rapid adoption of smart phones and other personal digital devices is driving the haptic feedback technology industry, and will continue to advance market growth in the next few years.

A new research report, Global Haptic Touchscreen Market (2013 -- 2018), segments the global haptic touchscreen market into sectors. These include components (kinesthetic and tactile sensing, and actuators), touch technology (resistive, capacitive), devices (touchscreens, input devices) and applications (consumer Electronics, automotive and medical).

According to the new report, the industry will experience brisk growth in the next few years. The overall haptic touchscreens market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 41 percent from 2013 to 2018. This will translate to about $51.77 billion by 2018.

The report’s authors note that product differentiation and increasing growth of the haptic touchscreens in the consumer electronics sectors are the major driving factors for the haptic touchscreens market. This differentiation may involve the emerging technology of adding haptic and sound feedback to touchscreens, using different types of actuators. Handset design challenges and the high power consumption are the major barriers in the growth of haptic touchscreens market.

Market share distribution in the haptic feedback marketplace is somewhat lopsided. San Jose-based company Immersion Corporation owns about 95 percent of market share in the global haptic technology solution market. The remainder of the industry is filled in by Finland’s Senseg and others.




Edited by Alisen Downey


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