How does touchscreen work?

There are two main technologies for touch screens these days: resistive and capacitive. Resistive touch screens work by pressing a sheet of plastic against a conductive material underneath and recording the position at which this occurred. Capacitive touch screens work by having a layer that stores electrical charge on top of a sheet of glass, and recording when some of the energy from the glass is transferred to the user.

Touch Screens work by having a thin overlay on top of the actual display. This overlay is a sensitive layer which transmits an electrical signal. The computing components then use this data to identify where the user has touched on the screen.