1 day Ago
Pixel 9 Pro XL Details on Google’s plans for the Pixel family were revealed this week, showing the potential pricing and core models for the next few years. But what can Google add to the Pixel 10 Pro design to keep the next Pixel on the cutting edge? How about adding touch to the rear of the smartphone? The details come in a recently published patent filed with the WIPO . Titled “Leveraging Inactive Touchpoints For Gesture Recognition and User Interface Configuration”, it describes how the rear of a smartphone could register and act on gestures while the phone is in a hand or resting face down.
Suggested features include adjusting volume, skipping through media, and altering user interface elements such as zoom levels, although the potential is far more expansive than those noted in the patent. Much of the patent covers how a machine learning model can discriminate between someone simply holding the phone or shuffling it around in your hand and someone deliberately entering a gesture. That’s going to be something that is unique to each user, and there’s every chance that Google will bundle this in as one of the advantages that artificial intelligence can offer to the Pixel community.
As with any patent, there is no guarantee that the features will make their way to any retail model. Some of the more out-there ideas will never come to fruition. Others are closer to current implementations that feel like they are one generation away from turning up.
A gesture system built into the rear of your smartphone feels like the latter. It builds on the Pixel Quick Tap functionality, where users can quickly tap the back of their phone to trigger a specified function from a list. This includes taking screenshots, playing or pausing media, or opening an app.
A gesture-based system on the rear of the Pixel would offer more inputs, extending the functionality. Beyond the expansive camera islands, the rear of a smartphone remains relatively pure on consumer phones. There have been one-off designs that include small screens to help with selfies or to offer notification alerts, and some gaming smartphones have used the space for peripherals to pull heat quickly away when the phone is under heavy load.
With smartphone displays offering no physical inputs, touch remains king. In the last few years, gestures have become the norm, so it makes sense that gestures could be added to the rear of a smartphone. If this does come to pass, I’d be curious to see what impact this has on the smartphone case—maybe the edge-only bumper case would have a resurgence? Google is expected to launch the Pixel 10 family in the summer of 2025, and there has been no hint that such a technology will be added, so it’s likely any debut would have to wait a year for the Pixel 11 family.
Now read the latest Pixel 10 Pro, Samsung Galaxy, and OnePlus headlines in Forbes weekly smartphone news digest ...
.
