Synaptics RMI4 touchpad and touchscreen controllers
Synaptics touch controllers that speak the RMI4 protocol over I2C, SMBus, or SPI, used in laptop touchpads, ClearPad touchscreens, and various embedded touch panels. The family has been widespread in mainstream laptops since the early 2010s and continues to ship in new devices.
recommendation
It should stay because the code is actively maintained, with new function support (F1A/F21) landing as recently as 2025-2026 and no sign of any deprecation or removal effort on the kernel mailing list. Synaptics is still selling new touch-controller hardware (a fresh product line was announced in April 2025), and the I2C, SPI, and pointing-function pieces all remain present in current kernels, so removing this would break real, currently shipping devices.
repository signals
sources
- git.kernel.org
Upstream `drivers/input/rmi4` continues to receive fixes and feature work in current kernels rather than being dormant.
- lore.kernel.org
A lore query for the driver family does not surface an obvious removal/deprecation series, which argues against imminent retirement.
- cateee.net
`CONFIG_RMI4_CORE` remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, showing the core driver is still upstream-supported.
- cateee.net
`CONFIG_RMI4_I2C` remains present through 7.0-rc+HEAD, including the `syna,rmi4-i2c` device-tree compatible, indicating ongoing transport support for real hardware.
- cateee.net
RMI4 Function 11 remains upstream and explicitly covers 2D multifinger pointing for touchscreens and touchpads, matching continued end-user deployments.
- drivers.synaptics.com
Synaptics still markets ClearPad touch-controller products, supporting the inference that the broader hardware family remains commercially relevant.
- synaptics.com
Synaptics announced new touch-controller products on April 14, 2025, showing the vendor still sells new touch-controller hardware in 2025.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
This is a real driver directory for Synaptics RMI4 touch/touchpad controllers over I2C/SMBus/SPI. Local `exec_command` inspection of the tree identified Synaptics RMI4 bus and transport drivers; local `git log` via `exec_command` showed substantive fixes/features through 2026-02-23, including new F1A/F21 support in 2025-2026, so the code is actively maintained. For public-history context, a lore query URL was used by canonical recall after a `web.search` for lore hits found no obvious removal/deprecation discussion. LKDDb pages were obtained via `web.search` and show core, I2C, and pointing-function support still present in 7.0-rc+HEAD. Synaptics product and 2025 press-release pages were obtained via `web.search`; they do not explicitly name RMI4, so `hardware_still_sold_new_in_2025=true` is an inference from continued Synaptics touch-controller sales plus ongoing upstream enablement, not a direct vendor RMI4 catalog statement. Net: maintained code, no clear removal push, and continued plausible laptop/embedded deployments justify `keep` rather than deprecate.