Apple’s virtual case button patent may be a harbinger of things to come.
With the iPhone 16 series, Apple will be moving away from the buttonless phone concept that has been bandied about since times immemorial. Not just move away, but completely obliterate the idea by kitting the iPhone 16 handsets with even more points of physical interaction around its sides.
After all, Apple introduced a new Action Button with the iPhone 15 series. Granted, it envisioned it as a direct replacement for the mute switch it has had since the OG iPhone, and which was getting a bit long in the tooth in terms of functionality.
On the iPhone 16, however, Apple is reportedly adding another physical control on the sides in the form of a capacitive key, tentatively named the Capture Button, as it will manage camera functions.iPhone 16 Capture Button functions
Besides the typical guess that the new physical key on the iPhone 16 models will allow taking photos, there are more rumored Capture Button functionalities:
Light press: focus on subject
Click: take photo
Longer press: start video recording
Slide right: zoom in
Slide left: zoom out
The capture key will be on the side of the power button, where the 5G mmWave antenna on the iPhone versions for the US is located. The antenna will now be relegated to the left, as the right side opposite the camera lens is the perfect positioning for a capture button, be it for snapping photos, zooming, or video recording.
Hopefully, this will put an end to vertical iPhone videos that users and advertisers balk at, too, and that is one of the rumored reasons for introducing a Capture Button on the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Those last two can take even further advantage of the touchy-clicky Capture Button mix, as they will come with Tetraprism cameras, whose 5x zoom functionality will be greatly augmented by the sliding zoom motion of the capacitive capture key.
