OnePlus Rain Water Touch could finally defeat touchscreens’ greatest foe

The forthcoming OnePlus Ace 2 Pro smartphone will launch with a new touchscreen feature that would have been quite useful during this sodden British summer.

On its Weibo page, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer has showcased a “Rain Water Touch” feature that’d enable the display to register a touch input even when raindrops are hitting the surface.

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As you’ll probably know, if you’re trying to use your phone with wet or sweaty hands, or if its exposed to moisture (from rain or otherwise), touch can be registered inaccurately or not at all. That’s due to the interference of water with the electrical conduction standard touchscreens use to recognise your prods.

In its demonstration, OnePlus shows the Ace 2 Pro up against the iPhone 14 Pro. While the Apple handset struggles amid user attempts to unlock it during a deluge, the homegrown handset has no such trouble.

As GizmoChina reports, OnePlus has fitted the Ace 2 Pro with a special chip and a trio of new algorithms to get around touchscreen technology’s usual aquatic limitations. According to the site, the tech worked well in foggy conditions as well.

We’re not sure whether the phone will launch outside of the China market right now, but it’s likely the company would look to deploy this innovation within handsets sold in other parts of the world.

The OnePlus 12 will be the next major flagship release from the company, but a recent spec leak mentioned nothing of the display technology. Would the ability to withstand the wet stuff influence your purchase decision of OnePlus were to adopt the Rain Water Touch feature in Europe? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.