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iPhone 15 Pro Solid-State Button Sensitivity Can Be Customized to Cater for Cases and Gloves
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Unless these buttons don’t unlock new usecases, this is just innovation for the sake of innovation.
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max users will be able to customize the sensitivity of the solid-state buttons on their device, thanks to a new sensitivity toggle in Settings. That's according to details provided by a hitherto reliable source that shared additional details on the MacRumors forums.
Earlier this week, the same anonymous tipster revealed that the iPhone 15 Pro models will use a new ultra-low energy chip allowing the new volume, power, and "Action" solid-state buttons to remain functional when the handset is powered off or out of battery.
Some iPhone users immediately raised concerns about how the new capacitive buttons will work properly when a case is fitted or when gloves are worn. In response, the tipster has revealed that iOS 17 will include a new toggle in Settings that will enable users to customize the sensitivity of the buttons to accommodate these different usage scenarios.
iPhone case makers typically receive design details about Apple's upcoming models ahead of launch that allows them to make tweaks for button positioning and other external changes. Combined with the new sensitivity setting, this should avoid any potential issues with the peculiarities of the new capacitive buttons, which will detect presses, holds, and respond to various levels of pressure via the use of a new Force Touch-style mechanism and Taptic Engine feedback.
In line with previous rumors, solid-state capacitive buttons are expected to be exclusive to the iPhone 15 Pro models, with the standard iPhone 15 models retaining the same traditional button mechanism as on the iPhone 14 series. The iPhone 15 Pro is also gaining a new customizable Action button in lieu of the mute switch, with a unified volume button replacing the separate up/down volume buttons.
The iPhone 15 series is expected to be announced in September, as per Apple's typical iPhone launch timeframe. For everything else we know about the new iPhone 15 series, check out our dedicated roundups using the links below.
Article Link: iPhone 15 Pro Solid-State Button Sensitivity Can Be Customized to Cater for Cases and Gloves
The current buttons work just fine.
Why not both? I can see this saving them money and bringing improvements to the UX.
Of course they’ll never admit it. They’ll just spin how it’s better for us instead. Maybe if we’re stockholders.
This is SO reminiscent of Canon EOS R's multifunction touchbar which was ... a disaster.
https://fstoppers.com/gear/has-canon-killed-multi-function-bar-467876
There's a reason buttons exist and are still used in many situations. A touch something (screen, bar, whatever) is nice looking, but it doesn't work well or is actually worse than buttons in most situations.
https://fstoppers.com/gear/has-canon-killed-multi-function-bar-467876
There's a reason buttons exist and are still used in many situations. A touch something (screen, bar, whatever) is nice looking, but it doesn't work well or is actually worse than buttons in most situations.
This is great until you are feeling around in your pocket or the dark to find the rocker switch or mute switch. Also you can’t tell the mute state by looking at the device. This is a stupid change…especially the mute toggle. There are just certain use cases you need physical buttons. I’ve never had the mute button or volume switch break in 16 years of iPhones. I think there are no more ways to make these phones different between generations and this is more about justifying a new device over a real innovation or saving money on warranty repairs. Someone said Apple loves selling you parts….sure….but they hate giving you parts under warranty.
Lmao this rumor came out recently and now it’s plastered everywhere as if it were 100% true. I love the 6 months prior to a release. Some rumors are hilarious. I understand some sources like Ming-Chi Kuo are very accurate but they’re not always right lol.
But wouldn’t you say that returns and repairs (and the lack of having to initiate them) are part of the user experience? Couple years ago, my mute switch randomly stopped working on my iPhone X and I had to use Assistive Touch to mute and unmute my phone (luckily I don’t do that often anyway), but it is a simple engineering principle that the less moving parts there are in a design, the less incidence of failure, which I think improves the user experience.
I hate the Touch Bar just as much as I hate the mute switch on the iPhone 🫢
I miss 3D Touch! One of the reasons I still keep my XS Max around even though my daily driver now is a 14 Pro.
Another year I'll be skipping an upgrade. My iPhone 12 Pro Max does everything I want and there's nothing compelling about the 15 that'll be worth the upgrade. Upgrades are so incremental now and it looks like the same form factor. Lack of innovation? Maybe it's all the WFH employees now.
They tried different form factors and they were crap. I have one of the slippery ones with rounded glassy side edges. It sucks, even though it still works otherwise.
So how about they stop with the innovation for the sake of innovation?
It also offers the option for double-press and long-press and maybe more (those 2 probably enough for me). Allowing the option to quickly access more than one thing via that button-formally-known-as-Mute also becomes a possibility if Apple chooses to support that in software. Apple already has double-tap on the power button to get to Apple Pay and both double-tap and triple-tap actions configurable for the back-tap gesture so I am least somewhat hopeful that multiple actions might be supported.
That of course then brings out the “too complicated” brigade which is something I am often perplexed by, e.g. in this case if Apple does do what I am hoping then people who consider that too much non-intuitive complexity and clutter can simply not set up any actions for double-tap or long-press in exactly the same way they very possibly don’t have any back-tap actions enabled.
Not sure how one would blame wfh, a setup that in my own experience has a plentitude of immediate productivity improvements, for the attempt to replace a working and proved set of components with a much more complex technical solution that will have minimal impact on my daily interactions with the device.
They are quite crap when using a case, lets hope this resolves that.
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Apple is pushing forward on removing physical buttons for several reasons, including for better water resistance. Much like the Apple Watch Ultra upped its water proof rating, the new iPhone Ultra is going to have haptic buttons and no USB C port, which will allow for a 50M / 150‘ water resistance rating.
That criticism would be valid if this was actually innovative. 😂 This was just extension of haptic. 3D Touch was the innovation, bringing Taptic Engine in for the whole screen interface, with built in OS support.
Do the current phones buttons do anything besides click when the battery is dead? 🤷♂️ I would imagine once the 15 is charged the buttons would work again much like the current phones.
The older iPads had a switch you could choose between rotation lock and mute, i miss being able to lock rotation easily on the iPad but they removed the switch. I like the hardware switch on the phone for vibrate because of how easy and mindless it is to do.