According to a report from Economic Daily (via AppleInsider), AI isn’t the only change coming to the iPhone this September. The iPhone 16 series will have capacitive buttons instead of mechanical ones, according to this report. Apple placed a huge order with supplier Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) for capacitive buttons that will replace all of the regular buttons on the upcoming iPhone 16.
This includes the power button, volume button, Action Button, and the new Capture button. Photographs are taken with the first button, while videos are recorded with the second. By swiping the button, the zoom level could be adjusted, and by half-pressing it, the subject/scene could be focused.
With a capacitive button, instead of pressing a mechanical button and feeling the force of your touch pushing it in, you simply touch it with your finger. The device may give you haptic feedback when you press it, even though it doesn’t move. According to today’s report, Apple will use two Taptic Engine motors to produce vibration whenever any of the capacitive buttons is pressed.
Technical issues prevented Apple from using solid-state capacitive buttons on the current iPhone 15 series. Within Apple, “Project Bongo” refers to the plan to replace mechanical buttons with capacitive buttons on the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
In comparison to mechanical buttons, solid-state capacitive buttons do not wear down from repeated use. Since high-end flagship phones are so expensive these days, many buyers plan to own their phone for years and they do not want mechanical buttons to fail.
