diff --git a/src/cdk/a11y/focus-monitor.spec.ts b/src/cdk/a11y/focus-monitor.spec.ts
index 41370ab208ce..693ca9e958c6 100644
--- a/src/cdk/a11y/focus-monitor.spec.ts
+++ b/src/cdk/a11y/focus-monitor.spec.ts
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ describe('FocusMonitor', () => {
 
   it('should detect focus via touch', fakeAsync(() => {
     // Simulate focus via touch.
-    dispatchMouseEvent(buttonElement, 'touchstart');
+    dispatchFakeEvent(buttonElement, 'touchstart');
     buttonElement.focus();
     fixture.detectChanges();
     tick(TOUCH_BUFFER_MS);
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ describe('cdkMonitorFocus', () => {
 
     it('should detect focus via touch', fakeAsync(() => {
       // Simulate focus via touch.
-      dispatchMouseEvent(buttonElement, 'touchstart');
+      dispatchFakeEvent(buttonElement, 'touchstart');
       buttonElement.focus();
       fixture.detectChanges();
       tick(TOUCH_BUFFER_MS);
diff --git a/src/cdk/a11y/focus-monitor.ts b/src/cdk/a11y/focus-monitor.ts
index 8d63982b67cc..a1d34a7ff988 100644
--- a/src/cdk/a11y/focus-monitor.ts
+++ b/src/cdk/a11y/focus-monitor.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
  * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
  */
 
-import {Platform} from '@angular/cdk/platform';
+import {Platform, supportsPassiveEventListeners} from '@angular/cdk/platform';
 import {
   Directive,
   ElementRef,
@@ -168,13 +168,16 @@ export class FocusMonitor {
     // When the touchstart event fires the focus event is not yet in the event queue. This means
     // we can't rely on the trick used above (setting timeout of 0ms). Instead we wait 650ms to
     // see if a focus happens.
-    document.addEventListener('touchstart', (event: Event) => {
+    document.addEventListener('touchstart', (event: TouchEvent) => {
       if (this._touchTimeout != null) {
         clearTimeout(this._touchTimeout);
       }
       this._lastTouchTarget = event.target;
       this._touchTimeout = setTimeout(() => this._lastTouchTarget = null, TOUCH_BUFFER_MS);
-    }, true);
+
+      // Note that we need to cast the event options to `any`, because at the time of writing
+      // (TypeScript 2.5), the built-in types don't support the `addEventListener` options param.
+    }, supportsPassiveEventListeners() ? ({passive: true, capture: true} as any) : true);
 
     // Make a note of when the window regains focus, so we can restore the origin info for the
     // focused element.
diff --git a/src/cdk/platform/features.ts b/src/cdk/platform/features.ts
index b6b82c3636b4..3ea2dad061d7 100644
--- a/src/cdk/platform/features.ts
+++ b/src/cdk/platform/features.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,27 @@
  * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
  */
 
+/** Cached result of whether the user's browser supports passive event listeners. */
+let supportsPassiveEvents: boolean;
+
+/**
+ * Checks whether the user's browser supports passive event listeners.
+ * See: https://github.com/WICG/EventListenerOptions/blob/gh-pages/explainer.md
+ */
+export function supportsPassiveEventListeners(): boolean {
+  if (supportsPassiveEvents == null) {
+    try {
+      window.addEventListener('test', null!, Object.defineProperty({}, 'passive', {
+        get: () => supportsPassiveEvents = true
+      }));
+    } finally {
+      supportsPassiveEvents = supportsPassiveEvents || false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return supportsPassiveEvents;
+}
+
 /** Cached result Set of input types support by the current browser. */
 let supportedInputTypes: Set<string>;
 
diff --git a/src/demo-app/focus-origin/focus-origin-demo.scss b/src/demo-app/focus-origin/focus-origin-demo.scss
index ddfd64de6bb3..f972dda6e39a 100644
--- a/src/demo-app/focus-origin/focus-origin-demo.scss
+++ b/src/demo-app/focus-origin/focus-origin-demo.scss
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+.demo-focusable {
+  border: 2px solid transparent;
+}
+
 .demo-focusable.cdk-focused {
   border: 2px solid red;
 }