Apple’s forthcoming iPhone release (tentatively the iPhone 6S) is heading back to the future with a report Monday that Force Touch on the device has been designed to support an Apple stylus, among other changes.

According to the usually reliable 9to5Mac the new iOS version of Force Touch (code named Orb) is designed to skip existing lists of options or button presses, versus opening up a large window of extra controls as it does on the Apple Watch.

Shourt cuts to be provided by the new Force Touch on the forthcoming iPhone are said to include the ability for a user find a destination of Apple Maps, then Force Touch to immediately enter turn-by-turn navigation (previously it involved multiple steps); for music, users will be able to use Force Touch as a shortcut to adding a song to a playlist for example.

Another feature the reports claims to be being tested are shortcuts that appear after Force Touching an app icon on the iPhone’s main screen, with the example given that if a user deep presses on the Phone app icon he could choose a shortcut directly to voicemail.

Other interesting features from the report include the new Force Touch said to be tuned to be “nice” and “consistent” across the system, what ever “nice” is meant to mean in context of an iPhone screen.

“If you see a stylus, they blew it”

The late Steve Jobs, never one to mince words, had a long hatred of styluses, and the headlined quote was his.

Hence the next revelation from the report will have him turning in his grave: the new iPhone 6s Force Touch screen is said to be being designed to support a stylus, and in particular the Apple stylus that will be shipped with the rumored 12.9 inch iPad Pro expected to be revealed in November.

The iPad Pro, allegedly codenamed J98 and J99, will feature the same Force Touch display that is debuting with the new iPhone and although not clear, interaction with specific features  suggests that the Apple stylus more have unique abilities; could Apple have reinvented an interface device that its founder and deceased deity so pathologically hated?

The new, stylus supporting version of the iPhone is expected to be revealed September 9.

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