The whole iPhone 16 series could get an even more powerful Action button

By James On Dec 1, 2023

One of the biggest new features on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max is the Action button, which can act as a customizable keyboard shortcut to launch apps or features of your choice. It's a useful upgrade over the mute switch it replaces, and it sounds likely that every iPhone 16 model will get this button – complete with some additional upgrades.

The main evidence for this comes true MacRumorsthat claims to have seen “extensive evidence confirming” that Apple plans to put an action button on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus, as well as the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

But the site also echoes previous claims we've heard that the action button could be capacitive this time around rather than mechanical. That would indicate that it will provide haptic (vibration) feedback when pressed, rather than physically pressing like a conventional button.

Why the change? Well, it could detect pressure differences, which could mean it could do something different depending on how hard you press it. MacRumors also claims that internal documentation mentions “tact switching functionality”, although it is not clear what this means.

A constant quality

However, the site seems to have a lot of confidence in Apple's plans, noting that in addition to mentioning this upgraded action button for the entire 16 lines in internal documents, the new hardware feature has also apparently appeared on even the earliest known designs and prototypes of the standard iPhone. 16; would remain a constant throughout the development of the phone.

That said, MacRumors points out that this is still pre-production information, so there's a small chance that plans could change between now and launch.

In any case, based on the information available to the site, it is also claimed that the iPhone 16 line will include a new 'Capture button', which will also be capacitive. This is something we have heard several reports about now.

Additionally, the site claims that the action button will come to the iPhone SE 4 in 2025, and then no more iPhones should be made with a physical mute switch.

Of course, 2025 is still a long way away, so there's a good chance plans for the iPhone SE 4 will change. As for the iPhone 16 line, it will likely launch in September 2024, so we'll find out then if every model has these buttons.