5 Things You Might Not Know About Synaptics

One could argue that, outside of the Silicon Valley bubble of successful technology ingredient companies, Synaptics is one of the tech industry's best-kept secrets. Stated a bit differently, many businesses and consumers are simply not aware of the pervasive and considerable presence that the 36-year-old company has in the products they use daily.

Last week, Synaptics reported strong 2Q quarterly revenue of $420 million in revenue for the company’s 2022 fiscal year, at the mid-point of the company’s forecasted guidance. More notably, the company reported that its IoT-related revenue was at a $1 billion run-rate for the year, a 60% improvement over its fiscal year 2021. Those who have followed Synaptics over the past few years are not surprised by the company's progress in the IoT space, given the investments the company has made to broaden its appeal to device makers in multiple market segments.

Founded by renowned technology legends Carver Mead and Federico Faggin in 1986, Synaptics has played a historic role in the usability and usefulness of an entire range of tech products (and categories) that many people might find surprising. Here’s a quick recap of Synaptics’ early contributions in the technology space for those new to Synaptics.

Synaptics developed the original scroll wheel in the Apple iPod

The iconic Apple iPod is credited with establishing the Cupertino company as the de facto market leader in the music device space in the early 2000s and burnishing the company’s reputation as an entertainment leader outside of the Mac hardware space. The iPod’s user interface evolved through multiple iterations before it achieved what most consider a nirvana state when it adopted Synaptics’ touch capacitive technology that was clickable. This capability first showed up on the iPod Mini and fourth-generation iPod. The clickable scroll wheel allowed users to scan and select songs from lists precisely and effortlessly quickly. The clickable scroll wheel facilitated rapid song scrolling and playback control. The interface quickly became a critical ease of use attribute that personified the iPod brand. The iPod remained wildly popular for over a decade until an unassuming product called the iPhone came along.?

Synaptics created the original touchpad that replaced mice and trackballs in early laptops

Millennials won't recall this, but there was a time when laptops did not include a touchpad. Until the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for a laptop to include a small trackball for cursor navigation with physical buttons. Trackballs had precision issues, were challenging to keep dirt-free, and exacerbated design thickness issues due to the inherent mechanical nature of trackballs. Recognizing that a capacitive surface could solve many of these issues, Synaptics introduced the first touchpads in 1994 (Epson and Twinhead being among the first PC OEMs to adopt the technology, followed by Apple in 1995). While other ingredient technology companies have developed similar touchpad capacitive technology, Synaptics has introduced new innovative capabilities over the past 20 years that have allowed the company to maintain a commanding touchpad market share leadership position among the top PC notebook manufacturers.

Capacitive buttons were developed by Synaptics and utilized in laptops long before the MacBook Pro

Apple made a big splash in 2016 when it first introduced the Touch Bar in 2016’s MacBook Pro. Essentially, the narrow touch-sensitive display that ran just above the keyboard was designed to offer users a new, innovative interface capability. While Apple got a lot of attention for the implementation, Synaptics showed a similar capability years before on laptops from HP, Acer and other leading PC OEMs. The notion of adding a strip of capacitive buttons with icons allowed PC manufacturers to replace mechanical function keys (creating thinner designs) and repurpose those buttons for different activities. Users struggled with the usability of these buttons, not because they didn’t function properly, but because the assigned use of the capacitive buttons could vary from PC manufacturer to PC manufacturer creating confusion. Even Apple struggled with its implementation as many users had a “love-hate” reaction to the technology and removed the Touch Bar from the MacBook Pro last year. Regardless, Synaptics should be credited with the initial leadership by introducing this capability to the broader market in the mid-2000s.

Synaptics’ Oynx concept pre-dated the original iPhone

Apple has always enjoyed the reputation of “inventing” the original smartphone, but it didn’t do so on its own. There’s a bit of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence syndrome in play here, as Synaptics showed off its Onyx concept of a fully touchscreen-controlled mobile phone in 2006 utilizing its ClearPad technology, pre-dating the introduction of the first iPhone in 2007. While Onyx was most certainly a concept and not an actual product, it showed off the possibilities of a viable user interface that threw physical buttons overboard. To be sure, Apple deserves credit for bringing the original iPhone to market with a well-designed software interface that set the bar for how Apple believed consumers would use a smartphone. But technology historians should record that Synaptics played a vital role in creating the smartphone category, as its technology ingredients continue to be present in many of the top-selling mobile devices today.

Synaptics’ helped deliver the touchpad driver in the first Chromebooks

When Google announced its first Chromebooks in 2011, the company turned to Synaptics for development assistance of the device’s original touchpad. Since then, Chromebooks have become extremely popular, especially in education, due to the device’s instant-on, always connected, integrated security and all-day battery life attributes. More than 86 million Chromebooks were sold between 2019 and 2021. Early last year, Synaptics recently renewed its commitment to the Chromebook space by announcing new TouchPad modules that OEMs could utilize to expand their presence in the Chromebook space.

Some closing thoughts

This list could be much lengthier, but this technology tour down memory lane is not intended for reminiscing purposes. Instead, I believe it’s instructive to remind people that the manufacturers of great technology devices used every day depend on companies like Synaptics for technological know-how and expertise that they simply do not possess. Usability, reliability, design-in ease and performance are not casual manufacturer “asks.” They are often requirements that can represent the difference between a product coming to market quickly or staying stuck in the design phase until suitable technology becomes available.

Viewed via that prism, Synaptics is likely to extend its product leadership in solutions that require touch, sight, connectivity, perception, hearing and user engagement. It is one of the few companies that have the portfolio (or the credibility) to deliver technology capabilities for virtually every experience.

Mark Vena is the CEO and Principal Analyst at SmartTech Research based in Silicon Valley. As a technology industry veteran for over 25 years, Mark covers many consumer tech topics, including PCs, smartphones, smart home, connected health, security, PC and console gaming, and streaming entertainment solutions. Mark has held senior marketing and business leadership positions at Compaq, Dell, Alienware, Synaptics, Sling Media and Neato Robotics. Mark has appeared on CNBC, NBC News, ABC News, Business Today, The Discovery Channel and other media outlets. Mark’s analysis and commentary have appeared on Forbes.com and other well-known business news and research sites. His comments about the consumer tech space have repeatedly appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, TechNewsWorld and other news publications.

SmartTech Research, like all research and tech industry analyst firms, provides or has provided paid services to technology companies. These services include research, analysis, advising, consulting, benchmarking, acquisition or speaking sponsorships. Companies mentioned in this article may have utilized these services.