The proverbial “proof”? Previous iPhones have all featured two hardware pins on each volume button, meaning four in total for the two volume buttons, but the iPhone 15 Pro/Ultra CAD files only show two pins where the volume buttons would normally be, which essentially means that there will be a single solid-state button.
Almost 100% sure that the iPhone 15 Pro will LONG Unified Volume button, rather than 2 separate ones.
While making our iPhone 15 Pro Concept, we’ve found that Apple uses 2 pins on each of the 2 volume buttons. The iPhone 15 Pro CAD only shows 2 pins on a longer volume button. pic.twitter.com/KzkpS9fYBB
— Daniel (@ZONEofTECH) March 2, 2023
There are some possible issues that immediately pop into mind. It would be interesting to see how faulty iPhones would go into recovery (DFU) mode, which currently requires interacting with both the volume down and power buttons. What’s more interesting, however, is how case-makers will adapt to the design change should the new keys require physical touch contact.
In order to make up for the lack of hardware clicks, Apple is reportedly considering adding at least a pair of two new Taptic Engines inside the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Ultra, which would aim to mimic the feel of a regular volume button.
This change, combined with the rumored titanium design, Apple A17 Bionic chipset built on the 3nm manufacturing node, and a USB Type-C port as well as a new periscope camera system, makes Apple’s next premium models quite intriguing already, given that we’re still more than six months away from their most probable announcements.
