Rumor has it that Apple has reworked the iPhone 16’s button design
What’s going on with the iPhone 16’s button design? We previously heard that the 2024 models will get a new Capture button and switch to a solid-state design for all their buttons, and now there’s a new report of button tweaks to digest.
MacRumors claims to have seen prototype designs of the iPhone 16 with an action button and volume buttons very similar to the configuration implemented on the current iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
In itself that wouldn’t be particularly noticeable, but there have been three previous prototype designs with different configurations of these buttons, which sit on the left side of the phone when you look at the screen.
In other words, it looks like Apple has once again abandoned its plans to implement something more innovative. We were also expecting solid-state (or capacitive) buttons on the iPhone 15 series, but in the end they never showed up.
Urgent issues
Capacitive buttons don’t actually move, but vibrate very subtly to provide feedback when pressed. Apple already uses them in the trackpads of its MacBook laptops and in the Home button for the iPhone SE that launched in 2022.
You can go back and look at the rumors of the previous prototype to see what these capacitive buttons could look like on the iPhone 16, and at one point a larger action button was thought to be in addition to a unified volume rocker.
The latest design, MacRumors says, shows separate volume buttons with an action button that sticks to the current size. On the other hand, there’s still a new Capture button present, and while it’s not capacitive, it’s said to sit flush with the phone’s frame.
Another thing that capacitive buttons can bring is different responses based on how hard they are pressed. For now, however, it appears that this technology will not appear on the iPhone 16.