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iPhone 18 Could Drop Camera Control Button, Claims Dubious Rumor

Even the idea of this button offends me. It should be a speed shutter/video button and no more. We have giant touch screens in the user's face they unlock and use 150 times a day, the button should not be feature-rich and confusing and should not have touch.

The "fanciest" feature the button should do: a half-press from the lock screen, home screen, or any app should give the user a quick "peek" through the camera lens for observing what they may want to photograph, a full compression then would snap off a shot and take the user into Camera, or letting go would disappear that view. The view would stop short of filling the display, to communicate the potential for the user to exit that peek view without taking any action.

Button: Quick Shot (button)
Preview: Quick View
 
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they should. it is useless IMO. It's too far from the edge on a Pro Max. Finger doesn't reach comfortably.
It needs to be more than half an inch to the right.
It was clearly and afterthought and re-appropriated from the old SIM card slot.
I have it turned off because every time I grab the phone, I accidentally open the camera...
 
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A button that can do everything is a button that nobody uses. I say get rid of it. The whole point of the iPhone is that it had no buttons!
 
I don't have the iPhone 16, but this feature always baffled me. I thought Apple were trying to get rid of buttons, but then added this, with only 1 function which is to control the camera.

For a device that is handled so much and grabbed in any orientation, accidentally pressing buttons is going to be high. There are many times I have with the Action button, or volume buttons.
 
I've learnt to use it, at least to open the camera - but it is really quite an "un-Apple-like" design - we're truly into the realm of ideas Jobs and Ive wouldn't approve of.


It's positioned almost too far to the right and it's not easy to scroll through thing, even after a year of use I certainly don't feel full in control of how it works.

I certainly don't think i'd miss it if it went - to be honest, long pressing the action button to open camera would suit me just fine - but taping from the lock screen is also easy and quick enough.
 
The CC button was one of the things I was excited for when I got my 16PM, but the combination of my small hands and the button's placement eventually led me to abandon it. Better placement that makes the phone feel like a point-and-shoot camera when held in landscape would make me a believer.
 
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Why report this? "It's a questionable claim, to say the least. The leaker behind it has no proven track record, is known mostly for aggregating other people's rumors, and has provided no source for this particular assertion."

That means this isn't a rumor as much as complete nonsense.

As for the button, I use it basically every time I take photos. It's one of my favorite features of my iPhone.
 
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It functions well enough as a shortcut and Visual Intelligence is genuinely one of the better features of recent years. But that can be mapped to the other button and as a camera control it’s too far along for an index finger and lacks a proper press for 2-stage focus like on Xperia phones. If they just outright copied Sony it would be a lot better.
 
For me, I don't use it because I never committed to using it and learning it so it's still normal for me to use the traditional app buttons, etc. BUT, as I play with it, it is a convenient way to bring up the camera and either quick push to take a pic or long hard press to take a video. I don't think I could find the camera app icon, tap it, and switch to either photo or video then frame and then tap the on-screen shutter button any faster. But as far as all the sub-features of the button...I think if one really committed to using it, it would be more "second nature". Right now, for me, with all the different presses and slides, not as easy as the camera app screen controls.
 
Paradoxally said:
Well yeah, that feature is trash. The button is placed way too high so when you rotate the device horizontally you need to move your finger higher up to compensate.

It's baffling that it doesn't even feel intuitive. Did Apple learn nothing from shutter buttons on cameras?



Buy a 15 Pro case?
Click to expand...

Have you got wonky sausage fingers? Works fine for me.
 
Cobold said:
You can disable the button completely. That's what I did on my 16 PM on day 1. The button is ultra clumsy to use and does add nothing. Everything it does, I can do with on screen controls.
That camera control is one of, if not THE stupidest additions to the iPhone I my opinion.
Click to expand...
It's a compliment to touch controls and is faster to do various things involving photos/video combined with touch (not a complete replacement of using touch controls).

It's a prosumer feature; it may make sense at best to remove on the non-pro iPhones vs the Pro iPhone.

It's not that hard nor abnormal for various audiences of the prosumer demographic the iPhone Pro is primarily for and the feature clearly demonstrated in its reveal.
 
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Johnny907 said:
I mean, no one uses it anyway, so it’s an unnecessary expense.
Click to expand...
Just say YOU don't use it. It's a prosumer feature, and Apple has for many years (as well as others) create products and features not necessarily for most that shouldn't be an expectation just because they’re household-recognized brands (Nvidia, Sony, etc).
 
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Might be in the minority here, but I like the camera control button! I have it set to change lenses and I like using it to launch the camera and as a shutter button.
 
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It was never a good idea to begin with. Many of the 'controls' one could use - aperture, focal length via cropping, styles - could be manipulated after taking the photo in the first instance.

Plus, who isn't happy with opening the camera from the many ways you can already do so? And why is having a dedicated shutter button worth the price of entry when you already have a large capture button on the big contextual screen that is in front of your eyeballs?

And actually sliding the control isn't particularly consistent, it isn't a "it just works" feature at all.

It's a feature that demonstrates how little leadership is at the top of Apple, given the iPhone's selling point historically has been its ease of use, now enhanced via a virtually edge-to-edge touchscreen that conforms to many controls. Adding more physical buttons is counter to their attitude of simplicity.
 
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WarmWinterHat said:
Hmmmm..

As for the rumor, well, it is pretty worthless. I completely disabled all the swipe/adjustment features and turned mine into a plain old shutter button. Works well for that, but that's not what Apple intended.
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If that works for you that's all that matters; that's what those settings are for: To make the device as useful as Apple has allowed it to be for YOUR use cases understanding not everyone needs or have to use every feature, UI interaction, or button on their device.

The feature is a power user / prosumer-oriented feature. It's not really expected for most to use it heavily.

For those that take a wide variety of photos/videos at a moment, it's a HUGE timesaver to get in and out of photo/video modes-especially important taking semi-important photos/video if someone doesn't have a DSLR on hand.
 
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