Would you like an iPhone without physical buttons? A new report claims that’s what’s coming to the iPhone 15 next fall, reiterating a previous rumor from last month.
Two rumors don’t make a certainty, but the latest report carries significant weight. Cirrus Logic is an Apple vendor and in a letter to shareholders this month (spotted by MacRumors), the semiconductor company said: “Finally, we continue to engage with a strategic customer and plan to bring a new component to market. HPMS in smartphones next year. .”
Of course, he doesn’t name Apple, but HPMS is a Cirrus Logic product that included haptic drivers for the iPhone’s Taptic Engine.
This follows an investor note from Barclays that points out that while we don’t have all the details here, or something like that, the new haptic engine capabilities would be perfect for solid-state buttons, considered to be a possibility since the October rumor.
By the way, that October report came from respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, so this new leak ties in nicely with it. And Cirrus Logic said the component is expected in the second half of 2023, perfect timing for the iPhone 15 series.
This would mean that instead of the current volume and power buttons, there would be solid-state buttons that don’t move but respond to touch as if they do.
It’s like the Touch ID button on earlier iPhones or the trackpad on Mac laptops. The haptic feedback is so precise that it’s easy to be convinced that the buttons are moving when they aren’t.
Fewer moving parts is certainly a mantra for Apple, which has long sought to improve buttons with haptics – even the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown now uses haptics.
It might even mean that the buttons would be flush with the side of the iPhone 15. At the very least, that would mean greater accuracy if you’re using the iPhone as a spirit level in the Measure app, but it would also add to the sleekness of the next iPhone flagship, likely limited to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, if that’s what they’re called.
But while this is an exciting prospect, it raises questions. Will the haptic buttons work through gloves, like the current buttons do? Will consumers really accept a phone that doesn’t have a single work button? After all, there’s something reassuring about knowing that if you hit a SNAFU, pressing the physical volume and power buttons will turn off the iPhone.
And what happens if you cover your iPhone with a case? Many cases these days put buttons on the outside that press those of the current iPhone. Will it even work through a case?
Of course Apple has thought about this and will have found a solution, otherwise it wouldn’t go ahead, assuming we read the runes here.
I remember being deeply skeptical of the haptic-powered Touch ID button. Until the very first time I used it. It might be the same thing.