Every year, Apple launches a new iPhone series with upgrades and updates over the previous iPhone models. But the Cupertino giant is yet to find a way for its touchscreen issue when the display is wet. Even the rumours for the upcoming iPhone series make no mention of addressing this problem. It’s not just Apple, many Android phone makers are also trying to find a solution to deal with this issue. However, OnePlus seems to have made a breakthrough in this area. The Shenzhen-based company has unveiled a new touchscreen technology called Rain Water Touch that will allow users to access their phone’s display even when it’s wet. This feature is set to debut on the OnePlus Ace 2 Pro, a mid-range smartphone scheduled to launch in China today i.e. August 16.
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OnePlus has posted a video on Weibo, showing off the feature on OnePlus Ace 2 Pro. In the video, the phone can be seen correctly following the touch inputs when the screen is splashed with water. There are two phones in the video, the other one is the iPhone 14 that fails to unlock upon entering the security code due to wet screen. The Ace 2 Pro was also exposed to foggy environment and it worked fine.
How does the Rain Water Touch work? It uses a combination of software and hardware. According to a GizmoChina report, OnePlus is said to have used a “custom screen chip and three new core touch algorithms” developed specifically for Rainwater touch feature.
Rain Water Touch is a significant improvement over the current touchscreen technology. Most smartphones, including OnePlus’ own smartphone, struggle to register touch input accurately when wet. This happens because can water, which is also an electricity conductor, interferes with the electrical signals that help detect touch. Rain Water Touch works around this problem using a set of custom chips and algorithm.
The introduction of Rain Water Touch could prove to be a game changer for OnePlus phones. The feature addresses a major issue that many smartphone and iPhone users and sometimes have to pay hefty amount to fix it.
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