The iPhone 15 Pro should ditch physical buttons in favor of fixed versions that detect touch. But won’t the buttonless design get in the way of your pouches and gloves?
The whistleblower who leaked accurate information about Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pros last year has now shared interesting details about the fixed buttons (power, volume, and mute) on the upcoming iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models.
In addition to turning the mute switch into a sort of Apple Watch Ultra-style action button, the leaker also shared more information on how solid-state buttons should work. Let’s unpack everything for you, okay?
iPhone 15 Pro rumored to have solid buttons
A solid state device means no moving parts, meaning you’ll feel simulated button presses with haptic feedback rather than an actual button press.
This design will even work with gloves and cases because the buttons will also feel the pressure applied to them. “Forgot to mention that the source knows these capacitive buttons will work very well with gloves and cases if properly designed as there is a sensitivity switch,”a source wrote on the MacRumors forums.
(1/6) My latest survey shows that the volume button and power button of the two high-end new iPhone 15/2H23 models may have a solid-state button design (similar to the home button design on the iPhone 7/8/SE2). and 3) replace the physical/mechanical button design.
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 28, 2022
Volume control
In other words, fixed buttons determine the amount of force applied. Obviously, this can serve other purposes, such as making the volume change slower or faster depending on how hard the user presses the buttons.
Another feature will allow you to change the volume by swiping up and down on the volume button. It is assumed that instead of separate volume up and down buttons, the iPhone 15 Pro models will have a volume rocker, as in the iPhone 3GS – one elongated button.
More images of cads Buttons! Source in video pic.twitter.com/sxy9GaNCre
— ShrimpApplePro 🍤 (@VNchocoTaco) March 20, 2023
As @ShrimpApplePro pointed out, the regular iPhone 15 models will retain the physical power, volume, and mute buttons just like the current iPhones.
How about an “Action”button?
Another thing that the tipster predicted is the action button. As mentioned, the mute switch should turn into a single button. Similar to the Action button on the Apple Watch Ultra, people will presumably be able to assign a different function to the button from this list of supported actions:
- Call/silence
- Please do not disturb
- Flashlight
- Low Power Mode
- Light/Dark Mode
- Rotation lock
- Show home screen
- Show lock screen
- Open Control Center
- Open Notification Center
- Open camera
- Screenshot
- Screen recording
- Run Shortcut
- Enable Accessibility
- Show app switcher
- Show App Library
- Shazam
- Voice behind the scene
- magnifying glass
We hope this is true. The silent switch has always seemed like a waste of time to us. It’s convenient to toggle the physical button to turn off the iPhone, but you can already do it in the Control Center (like on the iPad, where there’s no physical ringer switch). Or you can put your device face down to temporarily turn off notifications.
You can also create automation in labels and use focus modes for this.
A special chip will control the buttons when the iPhone is turned off
So, if the physical buttons are being replaced with their capacitive versions, how will you power up your iPhone 15 Pro? According to the source, the Cupertino giant has developed a special chip to further expand the Power Reserve mode.
As our Power Reserve guide notes, this is what allows you to pay your fares, use Apple Pay, and track your device on Find My for up to 24 hours when it’s turned off.
The base model seems to still have the old mute switch pic.twitter.com/Es9MntoXjh
— ShrimpApplePro (@VNchocoTaco) March 20, 2023
On the iPhone 15 Pro, the combination of hardware and software ensures that the buttons work even when the phone is turned off or the battery is dead.
The new chip will “immediately recognize when a capacitive button is pressed and held,”the source said. It will even detect Apple’s “own version of 3D Touch”and control the new volume, action, and power buttons “when the phone is off or off.”
Two new Taptic engines
It will also be responsible for driving two additional Taptic Engines tasked with creating fake button presses with haptic feedback, just like on Apple’s glass trackpads.
Tipster summed up what the chip can handle:
When turned on:
- Capacitive volume, power and action buttons
With power off:
- Capacitive volume, power and action buttons
- NFC drives, LE Bluetooth, LE-UW chips, etc.
- Taptic Engine feedback (maybe)
While the battery is low:
- Capacitive volume, power and action buttons
- Apple Pay Express Card
- Controls NFC chips, LE Bluetooth, LE-UW, etc.
So what happens when the battery is completely drained to the point where there is no energy left in the tank for this ultra-low power processor? You will presumably plug your phone into a power source, which will automatically turn it on.
What do you think of all this? Share your thoughts in the comments.