iPhone 15 Pro Could Feature Solid-State Unified Volume Rocker, Mute Button Instead of Switch

[HiVolt]

I really hope they don'd do this...

Having tactile feel, in bare hands or gloves is important to me for the power and volume buttons, and the mute switch.

Case practicality will suffer as well, as well as how are you gonna restart a frozen phone if the software doesnt respond that controls the virtual buttons.

 

[fourthtunz]

Besides all the well-pointed-out-by-others stupidity of this idea, how about getting the power and volume buttons to not be directly opposite each other, like they used to be a long time ago? I'm tired of all the screenshots of my lock screen when pulling the phone out of a pocket, and trying to hold the thing with one hand in landscape orientation and take a photo is nearly impossible. Buttons should always have nothing opposite them, so you can leverage the press.

right on! The iPhone 4s had the power button on top which was far better.
Not sure of the genius that changed it.

 

[fourthtunz]

how do you feel when the boys “info-teinment” system of your car only has “touch” controls va “physical” buttons and knobs?.
Those are total mess!. Thank you but NO thank you for your “innovation”, just copying a feature for the sake of copying it.
Innovation?, my touch sensitive…

I have a 2016 HOnda Pilot that i love but the infotainment and the heat controls are just dumb.

 

[compwiz1202]

They already do, sort of... It's possible to mute/unmute our phones using the Back Tap feature and it ignores the physical switch. They just haven't given us a shortcut action that does the same.

I used to be able to do it through accessibility for the one time when my silent switch stopped working. But that was years ago.

 

[JosephAW]

We still need a dedicated camera switch that you can hold or press even when the phone is locked in a photo or video is recorded without having to touch the screen

 

[LoveToMacRumors]

Why do they keep adding things nobody asked for…

 

[bruno7]

Well, the mute button + automation might be an option for folks who use Focus mode a lot. But what about those who don't?
Right now I can toggle this switch on and off even without looking and I can check what state it's in even without looking! How will I be able to check this if it is a button without looking at my phone's display? The switch just makes much more sense to me.

 

[jlc1978]

‘Dynamic island’ is not a solution, is just a way to conceal the problem. But the problem is still there: less screen space than the notch that is already less screen space than the punch hole design of other manufactures. Some marketing won’t change this fact.

The punch hole has its own issues, such as being a dark sot if an ap goes fullscreen. In either design you wind up with a dead spot; Apple just choses to make it a notch.

The camera bump (diagonal or not) is ugly and impractical, and this hasn’t changed.

So get rid of it by making the phone thicker?

I’m sure Apple has tested things extensively so I’m not worried. Case design will be interesting though.

Just have cutouts where those buttons are. Waterproof cases will be an issue.

I really hope they don'd do this...

Having tactile feel, in bare hands or gloves is important to me for the power and volume buttons, and the mute switch.

I agree.

Case practicality will suffer as well, as well as how are you gonna restart a frozen phone if the software doesnt respond that controls the virtual buttons.

My guess they'll have at least one real button; or else you'd be stuck with DFU mode to fix it.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Like that wont even be easier to accidentally mute your phone. I see more missed calls in my future...

Again, the rumor is that it’s not actually a button.
You’ll actually have to put your full finger on it just like you did the iPhone 7 home button and the new Mac trackpads.
It’s not a traditional button you’ll be able to just accidentally press in your pocket

 

[compwiz1202]

Again, the rumor is that it’s not actually a button.
You’ll actually have to put your full finger on it just like you did the iPhone 7 home button and the new Mac trackpads.
It’s not a traditional button you’ll be able to just accidentally press in your pocket

Maybe they should use if for Touch ID and also make it only toggle with a successful Touch ID.

 

[MacFan782040]

as someone who leaves their phone on vibrate 100% of the time

*shrugs*

My phone hasn't come off mute/vibrate in years.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Replacing the physical switch for muting with a push button would be a serious setback. A cheaper rocker switch for volume may be functionally no different. If they change the mute switch, we will go back to the days of cell phones constantly ringing during class and meetings and movies and auditoriums.

They should consider all of the elderly people trying to use iPhones for any changes.

Exactly what elderly person will be buying the iPhone 15 Pro Series ($1000+)who aren’t smart enough to realize that switch now equals button.
There have been much more dramatic changes, removing the home button, changing the look of the entire interface with iOS 7…

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Not a good idea. Elderly people have trouble identifying and using a Unified Button as two buttons.

They sure didn’t have an issue with it when the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G, and the iPhone 3GS, along side all iPod Touches for its first six years and the first four iPads *all* had unified buttons.

 

[jlc1978]

Exactly what elderly person will be buying the iPhone 15 Pro Series ($1000+)who aren’t smart enough to realize that switch now equals button.

People buy phones for elderly parents, and may chose a Pro version for any variety of reasons.

he issue is any interface has a learning curve, and it will take time to learn it. When you are teh on-call tech support, it is frustrating to keep getting "my phone doesn't work" calls.

It's not just the elderly, look at the outcry on MR when Apple makes a change to the UI. Something as minor as moving the search bar to a new location becomes a major issue...

There have been much more dramatic changes, removing the home button, changing the look of the entire interface with iOS 7…

All if which cause the same issue.

 

[bobcomer]

Again, the rumor is that it’s not actually a button.
You’ll actually have to put your full finger on it just like you did the iPhone 7 home button and the new Mac trackpads.
It’s not a traditional button you’ll be able to just accidentally press in your pocket

Just getting the phone out of my pocket I could hit that "button". After all, I flip the mute switch every once in awhile by mistake.

I'd rather they took the mute away altogether. As for muting it, just turn the volume all the way down and it's the same thing.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

right on! The iPhone 4s had the power button on top which was far better.
Not sure of the genius that changed it.

The iPhone 4s also only had a 3 1/2 inch screen and was like half the volume of most modern iPhones.
Imagine trying to just turn off a 14 Pro Max one handed and having to reach all the way to the top.
I’d have trouble doing it on my 12 Mini.
Your fingers already naturally wrap around the sides of the phone, especially a big phone, so having a button only slightly above where your fingers are on the side makes sense

 

[aPple nErd]

The mute slider is one of the most iconic iPhone things. It has a much more premium feeling than a button.

 

[redheeler]

Interesting choice to go back to a volume rocker. Change for the sake of change? Old is gold?

Please bring back skeuomorphism in the OS while you're at it, the flat interfaces got boring...

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

People buy phones for elderly parents, and may chose a Pro version for any variety of reasons.

that’s on them, why should we all suffer because one person bought their family member a $1500 phone when they would’ve gotten by just fine with a $400 one.
If Apple did that they’d never change anything, they’d never improve anything, because naturally if anything even slightly changes one of their over 2 billion customers is going to get confused.

 

[jlc1978]

that’s on them, why should we all suffer

If your idea of suffering is keeping a mute switch, you do you. My point was UI changes need to be carefully thought out to minimize confusion and error while adapting to a new one.

because one person bought their family member a $1500 phone when they would’ve gotten by just fine with a $400 one.

Maybe they needed a feature the $00 doesn't have?

If Apple did that they’d never change anything, they’d never improve anything, because naturally if anything even slightly changes one of their over 2 billion customers is going to get confused.

Sure. Change is inevitable, and not everyone is going to like it; look at the dynamic island as an example of innovative thinking that people complain about.

 

[compwiz1202]

Interesting choice to go back to a volume rocker. Change for the sake of change? Old is gold?

Please bring back skeuomorphism in the OS while you're at it, the flat interfaces got boring...

It could be cool too if you can slide on it too for volume like the bluetooth headset I have.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

And the same people would’ve complained when the iPod switched from a mechanical spinning wheel to just a Digital touch wheel.
Like… has anyone ever gotten literally anything on the side of their phone accidentally that makes their buttons less clicky? I have, it sucks.

 

[timber]

For me more important than accidentally muting the phone is losing the ability to in a second being absolutely certain the phone won't make a sound. For those occasions.

 

[ThailandToo]

I don’t know about you, but I would possibly never mistakenly switch my iPhone from mute to on. I orient the iPhone in my front left pocket the exact same way I have since the first version. I know exactly where the switch is. When walking into a meeting, I always ensure it’s muted while it’s in my pocket. Never had a problem. Never accidentally unmuted it.

And about 95% of the time it’s muted. I have zero desire for notifications to interrupt my day. In fact, I usually have it setup on DND with only my spouse being able to get an iMessage or phone call through. And that’s only in non-working hours. During work, I have zero desire to have anything notify me. It’s nothing but a distraction. When I want to check my phone, I do. This way I can spend far less of my day messing around seeing that someone has countered me on Mac Rumors and I don’t have to waste three minutes responding. LOL

 

[timber]

I don't accidentally mute or unmute it, I just like that when I want to change status I can do it very fast, without looking and when I do glance I'm certain that the setting is what I want.