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The iPhone 16 is Getting a New Button: Here's What It Can Do
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Wait until you see what else Apple has stored for the iPhone 16 Pro Series.
- Chip that's 10% faster that doesn't even need to be faster.
- Screen that's barely brighter than the previous version.
- Irrelevant Wifi and Cellular "upgrades" that aren't needed.
- New colors that are gimmicky.
- Camera upgrades that will still be worse than the specs on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
I'd bet my entire $5,000 commission check that this is all Tim Cook has in his pocket for September. At least I'll be able to sell more iPhone 15 series phones on sale and without a trade in requirement. It'll be so easy to talk people into a $10 a month iPhone 15 pro and give them a $300 credit towards accessories, tax on the phone, etc. There will be such little effort in talking people out of the iPhone 16.
The hardware progression with iPhone is painful when looking at what Samsung and Google are doing. We can argue all day the virtues of iOS vs Android, but there is no question Apple's hardware outside of SoC, which is barely ahead, is behind.
For me it’s the zoom which I’m looking forward to. Action button has been pretty redundant for me but this won’t be
Yours is a cogent comment. Full-size cameras with their well-evolved UI still have issues such as you describe. Many pros use a trick called back button focus on high end cameras that are engineered to facilitate it. Odds are the first iteration of a button trying to accomplish all those things will be less than perfect, but it is a start. It took Nikon many decades to evolve to its current good UI.
Another thing is that smartphone camera UI is so unbelievably poor today that anything Apple does will likely be a step in the right direction.
Shutter latency is a totally different issue than shutter UI. The lag is usually in the software rather than in the interface. We will just have to wait and see how shutter latency is in the iP16 Pros.
Look at the buttons on a pro DSLR. Buttons can be a good thing for advanced camera operation. Those less competent folks wanting less competence from their smartphone camera will no doubt also have a very simple solution provided for them by Apple.
This button is what should have been added instead of the Action Button. That thing might have made a decent camera quick-launch/shutter button (I too miss the days when the volume buttons didn't have an accidental screen lock lurking directly opposite them), but with the lenses being directly under your fingers when using it that way, it's nigh on useless. Hopefully the cost savings of removing it will win out over the fear of publicly declaring it a mistake.
It would be cool if it automatically started recording or taking a photo for those "I don't have 1 second to unlock my phone and swipe to the camera app and swipe to the mode" moments
Yes. According to Tim Cook fans, Tim Cook can do no wrong. If he removes buttons, he deserves praise because buttons are bad. If he adds buttons, he deserves praise because buttons are good. Cook fans are oblivious to the issue of user-friendliness, and think that Cook is doing a good job as long as Apple continues to make astronomical profits.
The biggest takeaway here? Maybe we’ll see less vertical photography
Our eyes are side-by-side, not stacked. Thus, our field of vision is wide, not tall. It’s why movie screens and TVs are wider than they are tall.
I’ve long-wished the Instagrams of the world would support rotate-to-view, so users could post more impactful images and videos. Seeing everyone record everything vertically, gives me a rash.
Our eyes are side-by-side, not stacked. Thus, our field of vision is wide, not tall. It’s why movie screens and TVs are wider than they are tall.
I’ve long-wished the Instagrams of the world would support rotate-to-view, so users could post more impactful images and videos. Seeing everyone record everything vertically, gives me a rash.
No doubt. And no question this isn’t a very purposeful move from Apple. It is a glaringly abnormal decision to add this button to both the Pro and regular models, when they always stagger features like the Dynamic Island, action button, etc. to the non pros 1 year later. My reasoning is that they’re trying to nudge us into taking more landscape photos, in the most subtle and Apple-like way: introducing a button that’s supposed to make landscape pictures feel great to take and more tempting than the classic vertical shot.
If this button makes it easier to take photos in landscape mode—like if it’s placed where it feels super natural to use—it could slowly push people to snap more sideways pics instead of the usual vertical ones. Why? Because of their obsession with spatial photos. I think they’re prepping for the next Vision Pro or whatever comes next, by indirectly causing an increase of landscape photos in everyone’s library. Which would in turn be a crap ton of photos to be turned “spatial” retroactively, for people to be marketed to enjoy on the next Vision whatever.
If this button makes it easier to take photos in landscape mode—like if it’s placed where it feels super natural to use—it could slowly push people to snap more sideways pics instead of the usual vertical ones. Why? Because of their obsession with spatial photos. I think they’re prepping for the next Vision Pro or whatever comes next, by indirectly causing an increase of landscape photos in everyone’s library. Which would in turn be a crap ton of photos to be turned “spatial” retroactively, for people to be marketed to enjoy on the next Vision whatever.
Are buttons... not user-friendly? if that's the case, the MacBook must be downright violent!
Guess what, Tim Apple will increase the price for the phone by US$100 just adding the new button. 😂😂
yes, this is what I'm talking about, it's the volume button the one I struggle to press to take a photo
This is really really embarrassing.
sitting below this story is an article about the Pixel 9 series and the amazing AI features it offers AT LAUNCH and we get an extra button that is straight out of android 2013 innovation ideas.
You would have to be out of your mind to buy the 16 Pro. DOA.
sitting below this story is an article about the Pixel 9 series and the amazing AI features it offers AT LAUNCH and we get an extra button that is straight out of android 2013 innovation ideas.
You would have to be out of your mind to buy the 16 Pro. DOA.