We’re still waiting for the unbelievably gorgeous 12-inch MacBook to ship, but our friends at iFixit have already done a teardown on the updated MacBook Pro, revealing the secret sauce behind the new Force Touch Trackpad and Taptic Engine that both new Macs share.
The teardown shows that the Pro’s new trackpad is supported by four spring mounts and a panel that isn’t likely to be present on the 12-inch MacBook. It does have the same Force Touch engine, which is really just a bunch of wire coils wrapped around a ferromagnetic core to create the clicky vibrations.
Check out the full gory details below:
True to Apple’s promises, the new Force Touch Trackpad features no moving parts, shunning linear oscillators which are traditionally used in phones to provide feedback.
iFixit found that the magnets push and pull against a metal rail underneath the trackpad to create the feedback with each click. To detect pressure, iFixit guesses that the trackpad uses tiny strain gauges mounted on flexing metal supports. The gauges detect the amount of flex on each, and based on that, the force from above.
You can oogle at all details in the teardown over at iFixit.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
One response to “iFixit teardown reveals Force Touch trackpad’s secret sauce”
Other iFixit teardowns of other Apple gear were just teardowns. Hmm but the new macbook pro, don’t do it!
I’m seeing scary images of the L.A. county coroner cutting up Marilyn Monroe