Due to unresolved technical problems, Apple has to roll back one of the biggest planned innovations of the iPhone 15 Pro, according to the supply chain.
iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max apparently keep the usual mechanical buttons. Due to “unresolved technical problems before mass production”, Apple has given up the planned major switch to buttons with pressure sensors (“solid-state buttons”), according to market observers with deep insight into Apple’s supply chain. The iPhone 15 Pro is currently in the hardware testing phase and the return to the previous button design ultimately simplifies further development, writes analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He, therefore, does not expect any significant delay in the mass production of the new iPhones.
Solid-state buttons give way to mechanical keys
The switch to solid-state buttons has so far been considered one of the biggest innovations of the iPhone 15 Pro: Both the mechanical volume buttons and the standby button should give way to buttons with pressure sensors that provide haptic feedback via vibration motors. Observers are only expecting this change for the iPhone 16 in 2024.
Virtually unchanged from the very first iPhone, the iPhone mute button was also reportedly on the verge of extinction. It has recently been speculated that Apple wants to replace it with a solid-state button that can be used for various functions. This has already raised concerns among some users that the switch is losing its central functionality.
The analyst Kuo sees the return to the classic button design primarily as a loss for two suppliers that should cover Apple’s increased need for vibration motors (“Taptic Engine”).
iPhone 15 without a radical new design
According to the first renderings, the iPhone 15 Pro is based on the tried-and-tested design of recent years – with minor innovations, including the housing and screen edges. What is striking is an apparently further growing camera hump, and it is also speculated that Apple uses titanium for the material of the housing frame, as with the Apple Watch Ultra. The iPhone 15 is expected to replace the veteran Lightning interface with USB-C and also bring the “Dynamic Island” – the information pill at the top of the screen – to the basic models.
TechAint 