Almost every first conversation we have starts with this question, and the honest answer is that the crossover point is around 32 inch — with three exceptions that matter more than size.
Cost per square metre
Below 21.5 inch, capacitive is cheaper, thinner and looks better. Between 21.5 and 32 inch the two are close, and the decision usually comes down to the front face. Above 32 inch infrared wins on cost by a widening margin: a 55 inch IR frame costs roughly a third of a comparable capacitive panel, and by 75 inch the ratio is closer to one fifth.
The reason is yield. A capacitive sensor is a sheet of ITO patterning, and defects scale with area. An infrared frame is four extrusions and a strip of LEDs — length costs almost nothing.
What the front of your product looks like
An IR frame stands 9.5 mm above the glass. If your industrial designer has drawn a flush, edge-to-edge front, infrared is not an option and no amount of cost argument changes that. If the bezel is already part of the design language — most kiosks and all interactive flat panels — the frame disappears into the product.
Gloves, water and styluses
Infrared works with a gloved hand, a wet finger, a pen, a pointer. Capacitive needs a conductive object: a bare finger or an active stylus. If the product is used in a factory, a kitchen or outdoors in winter, this single fact usually decides it.
Sunlight
Capacitive struggles in direct sun — the IR rejection of the controller is fighting the sun's own infrared. Below 10,000 lux both are fine. At 30,000 lux and above, an infrared frame with a proper filter strip is the more reliable choice, and it is what we specify for outdoor terminals.
Multi-touch count
Capacitive gives 10 points cheaply and 40 with a bigger controller. Infrared gives 2 to 40 as well, but the optical geometry means two people writing at opposite ends of a 86 inch board behave better on IR than on a large capacitive sheet. For classroom boards, IR is still the default for this reason.
Service life and repair
A capacitive panel that delaminates or cracks is a return. An infrared frame that loses an LED tube is a $12 part and twenty minutes. If your customer base is distributed and you do not want an RMA pipeline, that difference matters more than the datasheet's 10 million versus 50 million touch rating.
The short version
- Under 21.5", flush front, indoor, finger only: capacitive.
- 21.5"–32", indoor, design-led: capacitive; if gloved or wet, infrared.
- 32" and up: infrared, unless the front must be flush glass.
- Outdoor or high ambient light: infrared.
- Classroom or meeting board: infrared, 20–40 point.
If you are between two options, send us the drawing and the use case. We build both, so the recommendation does not depend on what we have in stock.
Tell us the size. We will tell you what fits.
Send a drawing, a size, or just a photo of the screen you are building around. Our engineers reply with a matched part and a price within 12 working hours.