Apple's next iteration of the iPhone—expected to be the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus—will feature Force Touch, a technology first introduced on the company's new MacBook and the Apple Watch. The prediction comes from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, who also said Apple would release a rose-gold color for the iPhone.
"Force Touch can enrich user experience due to more input methods and support of handwritten signatures, which is beneficial for expanding the commercial market," Mr. Ming-Chi wrote in a research note first covered by AppleInsider.
ForceTouch was introduced on the trackpad for Apple's new MacBook, and it's a feature of Apple Watch. It allows the user to use a forceful push as a separate input method from a tap, a double tap, or tap and hold. It's the kind of innovation that is perfect for iPhone, and the analyst said it would be both iPhone 6s's biggest selling point and the biggest bottleneck for production.
Ming-Chi Kuo has a good track record with his Apple predictions compared to other analysts, and he is generally considered to be well plugged in to the company's supply chain. This is fairly early in the in the iPhone rumor cycle, however, so take even his predictions with a grain of salt.
According to his research note, Apple will add rose gold, presumably as a fourth color to the iPhone line. He did not indicate whether or not the device would be made of actual gold, like Apple Watch Edition, but like the Gold color on existing iPhones and Apple's new MacBook, it is likely to merely be a color.
Other tidbits included in his predictions include Apple bumping the camera in iPhone 6s to 12 megapixels, and that Apple is still looking at using sapphire for the display. In addition, Touch ID will get an upgrade to be faster and more secure.
Lastly, the analyst said Apple would not introduce a new 4-inch iPhone model, keeping new iPhone models in the 4.7-inch size of the iPhone 6s and 5.5-inches of the iPhone 6 Plus.