Apple is reportedly envisioning a future where iPhones don’t have any ports or any physical buttons whatsoever. We already know that the company plans on removing all ports from the iPhone. Reports claim that Apple aims to make the device completely portless and opt for MagSafe charging instead of the Lightning and soon-to-be-mandatory USB C port. However, according to well-sourced Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo, the company will also drop all mechanical buttons from the iPhone 15 Pro range next year. Instead of using physical buttons, Apple will add a solid-state volume and lock button to the device.
For those of you who have used an iPhone 7 or iPhone 8, you’ll know that Apple already tested using solid-state buttons on both of those phones. The home button on both the iPhone 7 and 8 range aren’t actually buttons. Instead, they are just a piece of glass with a fingerprint indent and scanner. When you press it, the phone vibrates giving you the illusion that you’re pressing a button.
Apple uses this solid-state technology and its Taptic Engine to create “fake” button presses on a variety of products. The MacBook range uses it on the trackpads, the iPhone SE also includes a solid-state home button.
The company is reportedly aiming to produce an entire iPhone 15 Pro range with only solid-state buttons. Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple will add two more Taptic Engines to the iPhone 15 Pro range to provide feedback when users press all the buttons. The report doesn’t mention anything about the base iPhone 15 range so Apple will likely include these new buttons on the Pro range only.
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My latest survey indicates that the volume button and power button of two high-end iPhone 15/2H23 new iPhone models may adopt a solid-state button design (similar to the home button design of iPhone 7/8/SE2 & 3) to replace the physical/mechanical button design.— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) October 28, 2022
We are still a year away from seeing the iPhone 15. Apple just recently launched the iPhone 14 which is the most expensive phone in the lineup. It was not only released in SA at a substantially higher price than the iPhone 13 but iStore recently hiked the price up even more last week. We don’t want to imagine what things will look like when the iPhone 15 rolls around this time next year.
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