Rumors about iPhone haptic buttons have been around for a while. This technology should replace hardware physical buttons at some point in the future, but not as soon as we’ve thought. Now, it seems that iPhone 16 haptic buttons are coming next year.
Recent rumors have been suggesting that it will happen on the iPhone 15 lineup. but it turns out that in Apple they changed their mind. Namely, Bloomberg’s Mark Mark Gurman reported this weekend that Apple canceled the introduction of this tech in iPhone 15, and left those plans for the next year with the iPhone 16 haptic buttons.
So, anyone who is waiting for iPhone 15 to become their next phone, should be aware that this lineup may come with old-fashion physical buttons.
iPhone 16 haptic buttons are coming next year
Gurman points out that the reasons for Apple’s decision are primarily costs and complexity. Internal tests still show the functionality for the time being. Apple is believed to keep solid-state technology until the launch of the iPhone 16 Pro next year.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also claimed that Apple is planning to hold solid-state buttons until the launch of the iPhone 16 Pro. The reasons he argues are “unresolved technical issues before mass production.” Nevertheless, the result is the same. The tech will be introduced as iPhone 16 haptic buttons.
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However, If you’re looking forward to this new feature, you should also take into account that Solid-state buttons will be limited to next year’s iPhone 16 Pro models. Cheaper iPhone 16 models will retain the same volume button design as the iPhone 14 as well as iPhone 15.
Is haptic volume buttons a good idea at all?
On the other hand, many argue that haptic technology will not be convenient to use, as we might think. The reason is that fingers “need” some physical” boundaries to get the right feeling. As for technology per se, we can draw an analogy with the 3D touch, which died out within one generation. It is possible that iPhone 16 haptic buttons may not be a good idea at all.
With changing strategy, Apple’s objective was adopting a single, unified button rather than a dual design for the volume control.
However, we still expect a notable design change in iPhone 15 Pro lineup. That is the mute switch, which will be called the “Action” button.
Some rumors say that it may be a part of the iPhone “Ultra”. Yet, not everybody agrees on future Apple naming.