July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Canopy’s Sensus case does more than just protect your iPhone — it also provides touch controls along the rear and right side of your phone.

The case accepts up to 10 touch points on the back and side, about the same as what your smartphone’s touchscreen display supports. Canopy chief strategy officer Matt Pacyga showed off the Sensus last night at an early CES press event (see the full demo below).

The case’s functionality is similar to Sony’s PlayStation Vita portable console, which has a rear touch panel. Pacyga notes that it this panel could be useful for unlocking additional functionality for games and a wide variety of apps. You could use the side touch panel to scroll through a text-heavy app. He also showed off how it could be used to make smartphones easier to use for the blind.

The Sensus will be priced somewhere between $60 and $100 when it starts shipping this summer. Pacyga assured me that, while the case used some of the iPhone’s battery for the touch controls, its impact on battery life is fairly minimal.