Emerging Haptics Find Their Niches

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Haptics are an essential feature of the UX platform in many electronic products today. Whether as notification provision in a vibrating smartphone, tension building in a video game controller, or input confirmation in an industrial scanner, this billion dollar industry is something that most people will experience every single day. The new IDTechEx Research report Haptics 2016-2026: Technologies, Markets, Players External Link covers all of the key haptics technologies and players across the ecosystem. With full details on how each technology works, who the main players are, key case studies, interviews and company profiles throughout, and full market forecasts from 2015 to 2026, this report provides the most comprehensive description of the haptics industry available.

Cheap, reliable and largely adequate, eccentric rotating mass (ERM) motors are supplied in huge volumes from China, and dominate the marketplace. However, the diversity of alternative technologies that are available to the end users is growing, and now includes everything from linear resonant actuators (LRAs) and voice coils to piezoelectric polymeric films and microfluidic display overlays. The report details the 'if, how, where and whys' around the disruption these new options will cause to this mature industry.

The report concludes that the market as a whole will grow at a steady 7.2% to 2026, reaching a total size of $2.3bn. However, it is the emerging sector, starting small in comparison but growing at 30.2% CAGR to over $500m in the next decade where the most potential lies. The largest players are already backing new haptics with both financial support and product reputations, typified by Apple's announcement of their custom LRA, the Taptic module.

There is great diversity amongst the emerging options available. The report contains full benchmarking tables, comparing each technology like-for-like across a series of key parameters. This is then matched to specific application areas. This is of particular interest with many of the new features being offered. Whether it be the ability to modulate frequency, give spatial signal variation, or have mechanical robustness, many of these new options can be linked to very compelling potential use cases which developers are already beginning to investigate at length.

Understanding the player ecosystem is key to this industry. Very fast growth and rapid commoditization of certain actuator types, coupled to higher and higher standards being set by the OEMs has led to a graveyard of former leaders in this space. As production moved to China and attempts to differentiate failed to stick, competing for the biggest prizes like the mobile phone sector has been extremely tough, and often fatal. However, as the longer term development projects in niche applications begin to surface, new haptics will begin to find market share, driving long term growth. The report contains over 20 separate company profiles, interviews and case studies covering the entire industry and value chain, conducted directly by the analyst team at IDTechEx Research.

Haptics 2016-2026: Technologies, Markets, Players External Link is the best resource available to gain a detailed understanding of the haptics industry. It describes all of the technology options available on the market today, benchmarking their performance against each other. It outlines the opportunities in this industry, both by detailing the unmet needs of end-users and the limitations of current technology, and via market forecasts. Finally, it characterises all of the key players, with 1-to-1 interviews and case studies throughout.