Apple looks to merge the iPhone’s action and volume buttons.
Apple keeps growing the number of keys and buttons around its venerable iPhone. With the iPhone 15 series, it introduced the Action Button to the general iOS-loving public, replacing the mute switch that was getting long in the tooth as it’s been there since the beginning of the OG iPhone.
The Action Button’s purpose in life is to launch default apps or be mapped to start most anything your heart desires. On the iPhone 16, however, Apple decided that it will need another physical accoutrement to the sides, this time called simply the Camera Control.
It does what it says on the tin, with a clicky module to take a picture, and a capacitive component to zoom in by sliding along the key. That, however, makes for no less than five separate buttons on the iPhone 16 series, moving Apple further away from the rumored efforts to make an all-screen buttonless phone.
