Apple Stores show off 3D Touch on iPhone 6s with interactive LCD display tables

Posted:
in iPhone edited October 2015
To expose a wider audience to the new 3D Touch capabilities of iPhone 6s, Apple installed massive display tables outfitted with interactive screen surfaces at two flagship U.S. Apple Stores this week.




As seen in the video below, furnished by YouTube channel Grate App, the large metal-clad installations are basically oversized LCD panels made into tabletops, onto which are attached eight iPhone 6s handsets.

Each iPhone displays an animated Betta fish -- stars of the new 3D Touch-enabled wallpaper included in iOS 9 -- that react to a customer's taps and deep presses. When 3D Touch is invoked, a ripple animation on iPhone's screen propagates outward from a user's finger and onto the display table. While the video's narrator refers to the installation as a "Force Touch table," the hardware does not appear to have touchscreen functionality built in, instead relying on input from what looks to be custom iPhone mounts.

In both stores, the iPhone demo tables are attended by at least two employees tasked with demonstrating 3D Touch functionality and helping customers try out the feature for themselves. They are also armed with microfiber cloths to keep things clean, as evidenced by one attendant who can be seen frenetically wiping down the large screen and its shiny metal encasing in the video below.





According to Apple Store staff, only two of these iPhone 6s display tables exist, one located in New York and another in San Francisco. It is not known if Apple intends to roll out additional units at other Apple Store locations, make the tables permanent fixtures or extend the concept to other product lines like MacBook.

Apple introduced 3D Touch as a tentpole iPhone 6s feature in September. Integrating the technology required substantial internal changes compared to last year's iPhone 6, including the addition of an all-new pressure-sensing layer to iPhone's display assembly, a new flexible cover glass material and the inclusion of Apple's Taptic Engine.

The company is focusing on 3D Touch in this year's iPhone ad campaign, touting the tech as a completely new mode of user interaction. The latest spot aired yesterday showing off "Peek and Pop" features for first- and third-party apps.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    My cat would go nuts over this 3D touch / swimming fish iPhone 6s / Force Touch table..
  • Reply 2 of 25
    shsfshsf Posts: 302member

    so what the heck does this table do?:???:

  • Reply 3 of 25
    krawallkrawall Posts: 162member

    I guess it's art.

  • Reply 4 of 25
    shsfshsf Posts: 302member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Krawall View Post

     

    I guess it's art.




    arty farty

  • Reply 5 of 25

    It sells iPhones, of course!  :)

  • Reply 6 of 25
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SHSF View Post

     

    so what the heck does this table do?:???:


     

    It sells iPhones, of course! :)

  • Reply 7 of 25
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SimbaLion View Post

     

     

    It sells iPhones, of course! :)


     

    The number of customers crowding around that table in the video looked really promising for sales...

  • Reply 8 of 25
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by otterfish View Post

     

     

    The number of customers crowding around that table in the video looked really promising for sales...


    Haha.  Have you seen the Apple Watch tables?  This is a throng compared to those.  And I'm actually talking about the San Francisco main store, where I imagine this was taken.

  • Reply 9 of 25
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    I would feel pretty silly using that table.

  • Reply 10 of 25
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    simbalion wrote: »
    Haha.  Have you seen the Apple Watch tables?  This is a throng compared to those.  And I'm actually talking about the San Francisco main store, where I imagine this was taken.

    Of course it is because there's nothing you can do at an Apple Watch table. Normally when I see people at iPhone, iPad or even Mac tables they're just browsing the internet.
  • Reply 11 of 25
    Um... Ok...

    So basically this table distracts you from the item Apple wants to sell you. Is it nifty? Yes. Does it belong in an Apple Store? Heck no!

    One of the things that separates Apple is that they stay away from gimmicks and let their superior products speak for themselves. This is just joining the also-rans in gimmickry practice.

    Focus, Apple.

    Don't let Angela turn you into Microsoft with things that supposedly add to the "sales experience," but in reality accomplish the opposite.

    Apple is where it is due to its hard work, simplicity, focus, and fairness.

    Those principles should never change-neither at their core nor in any practical application
  • Reply 12 of 25
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,300member
    iPhones sell themselves.
  • Reply 13 of 25
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BlueFire1 View Post



    iPhones sell themselves.



    If you are sucker to buy one at these crazy prices.

  • Reply 14 of 25
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,540member
    marvfox wrote: »

    If you are sucker to buy one at these crazy prices.

    Well done.

    Is this the part where people tell you to get a better job, or better manage your priorities, before the discussion goes down in flames?

    Or do we just whack you and declare that different people obviously prioritize different things, and that what something is "worth" is up to the individual?

    Work is a lot more fun if you have nice tools you enjoy working with.
  • Reply 15 of 25
    marvfox wrote: »

    If you are sucker to buy one at these crazy prices.

    You forgot to add the "/s".
  • Reply 16 of 25
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    9secondko wrote: »
    Um... Ok...

    So basically this table distracts you from the item Apple wants to sell you. Is it nifty? Yes. Does it belong in an Apple Store? Heck no!

    One of the things that separates Apple is that they stay away from gimmicks and let their superior products speak for themselves. This is just joining the also-rans in gimmickry practice.

    Focus, Apple.

    Don't let Angela turn you into Microsoft with things that supposedly add to the "sales experience," but in reality accomplish the opposite.

    Apple is where it is due to its hard work, simplicity, focus, and fairness.

    Those principles should never change-neither at their core nor in any practical application

    Huh? What is it distracting you from? It's showing off one of the main features of the new iPhones...3D Touch and Live Photos. It's allowing you to interact with the product in a really cool way. I fail to see what the distraction is.
  • Reply 17 of 25
    rwesrwes Posts: 200member
    marvfox wrote: »

    If you are sucker to buy one at these crazy prices.

    High end phones have always cost around these prices and often more. When adjusted for inflation, cellular device prices like computers, have not increased. That is expected though with components getting smaller, cheaper, easier to manufacture, efficient, etc. I remember wanting one of the phones from the movie the Matrix back in the day (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_8110). People have to remember these (higher end) devices have always been subsidized in many markets and are still in some markets today. Try another argument, unless you did forget the "/s".

    And sorry, I'm not attacking you - just your comment on "crazy prices".

    To another persons comment, you need to not value a product for someone else. I have friends who spend on certain things and I think they're crazy. They think the same of me when I spend on tech I'm sure. I have friends who pay someone to handle things for them that I would never and I pay for things friends would never.
  • Reply 18 of 25
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,300member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by marvfox View Post

     



    If you are sucker to buy one at these crazy prices.




    Apple high end products have consistently come at a premium, but the build quality, attention to detail, and the exceptional customer service is unequaled.

    Sometimes, you really do get what you pay for.

  • Reply 19 of 25

    So far, that seems like a lot of tech for a small return. If someone knew little to nothing about 3D Touch, I don't know that this would "WOW!" them. It seems a little geeky to me. It's a pretty cool affect, by way of Koi Pond and similar iOS apps.

     

    On the other hand, I'd really like to have a coffee table like that. Every time you set an item down on it, you'd get the ripples. Alternately you could populate it with "fish" as with Koi Pond or that cool Aquarium app for OS X.

     

    I'm just not sure that this instantly or quickly conveys a concept that will make people want it. It doesn't show the use of 3D Touch as demoed at the September Event.

  • Reply 20 of 25
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    marvfox wrote: »
    If you are sucker to buy one at these crazy prices.

    as if any of you are equipped to criticize what the leading and most successful CE company in the history of earth is doing. ok, sure, they don't know what they're doing and you guys do.
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