The Ultimate Sense of Touch at Your Fingertips

According to the Canalys data, the global PC shipments in 2024 grew by 3.9% to 256 million units. 2025 is expected to be a year of accelerating growth and actually grew 9.4% Year-on-Year in Q1 2025, reaching 62.7 million units. With the end of support for the Windows 10 OS in October 2025, holiday promotions and rising global shipments of AI PCs, the personal computing device market is entering a new replacement cycle. This is also expected to spur demand of TouchPad/TrackPad accessories.

From Dispensable to Indispensable

In 1990s, the first-generation touchpads emerged, but their user experience fell short due to issues such as inaccurate positioning, cursor drift, and sluggish response. These limitations prevented most users from adopting touchpads as a primary input method, relegating them to near-obsolete status in daily use.

To address these challenges, a collaborative effort unfolded among laptop OEM manufacturers, operating system vendors, touchpad device suppliers and solution providers to improve touchpad technology. Microsoft introduced the ‌Precision TouchPad (PTP) standard‌, ensuring high-precision cursor control and robust gesture recognition. Innovations such as Force Touch technology have further revolutionized interaction by integrating pressure sensitivity and haptic feedback, simulating physical keystrokes and taking tactile responsiveness to next level.

Today, integrated touchpads have become standard in laptops, while desktop users and tablet owners increasingly rely on wireless keyboards and leather case keyboards with build-in touchpads. In scenarios demanding seamless operation, users tend to opt for larger, stand-alone touchpads for enhanced fluidity. The touchpad has evolved into a streamlined, efficient, and universally embraced human-machine interface, no longer merely a temporary substitute for mouses, trackballs, or pointing sticks.

Integrated Touchpad in Laptop and Keyboard with Touchpad

Intuitive TouchPad: Seamless Control Experience

I. Capacitive Touchpad Controller

As a leading semiconductor vendor, our R&D team is dedicated to the continuous enhancement of our capacitive touch technology platform, for which we have accumulated numerous patents. The product portfolio is used in a variety of applications, including mobile phones, tablet PCs, IoT devices and smart homes, with hundreds of millions of units being shipped each year.

We are delighted to introduce the latest addition to our product range: the GSM3765/3766, a hybrid self/mutual capacitance touchpad controller that offers following features:

• High Sensitivity：40dB SNR for smart sensing

• High Performance：140Hz high report rate to make fast response 

• High Precise：Accuracy/ Linearity 0.5-1mm, enable precise positioning and excellent pointing ballistics

• Low Power：Active/Idle/Shut down low power modes current: 9mA, 0.1mA, 20uA

• High Interference Prevented：EFT 4KV, CS 10V, can working in harsh environments

• Water Proof：support high waterproof level, is suitable to be handled by wet hands, to work in conditions with water droplets or in a humid environment

• Extensive Interface Options：I2C, SPI, HID-I2C

II. TouchPad Modules

We know that high-quality chips alone are not sufficient to meet the full requirements of PC OEMs and end-users. It is essential to combine the chip's advanced features with customized or standard total solution, based on an in-depth understanding of the system. We work closely with our partners to deliver cutting-edge touchpad modules.

• A variety of touchpad types including with buttons, with force detection, with haptic feedback and with fingerprint reader

• Support consumer laptops, business laptops, and others

• Optional Glass or Mylar facesheet

• Supports touchpads of up to 10 fingers and 200 mm * 160 mm

• High compression consistency across all areas

• Standard/Customized Algorithms: GigaDevice TouchPad Algorithm Library which includes Palm Rejection, Waterproof, Hover tracking…etc.

• Lean management, from the design process to the assembly process, to deliver high-quality, high-performance modules

III. Operating Systems Supported

GigaDevice's touchpad solutions provide pre-optimized drivers to ensure seamless integration with PC and tablet operating systems, enhancing the user experience. We now support following OS protocols:

• Windows Precision TouchPad (PTP) Certification

• Google Chrome OS

• Linux OS

• iPadOS

Exploring the Touch of Tomorrow

GigaDevice's touchpad solutions have been adopted by renowned manufacturers for mass production, owing to proven performance and sustainable supply chain.

Zhi Jun, Vice President and General Manager of GigaDevice's Sensor Business Unit said, “We provide total solutions, including touchpad controllers and modules, as well as algorithm optimization and tuning, all delivered with uncompromising reliability and quality to help our customers build industry-leading products. We will further expand the product range of touchpad solutions and focus on two major aspects:

Firstly, we will enhance the user experience through technological innovation, including improving haptic feedback and integrating biometric fingerprint sensor.

Secondly, we will continue to provide more competitive solutions with high product quality.”