Will Apple iPhone 15 Pro skip physical buttons? Here’s what we know

According to reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the Cupertino-based company will not add solid-state buttons with haptic feedback to Apple iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Reason? Unresolved technical issue.

“My latest survey indicates that due to unresolved technical issues before mass production, both high-end iPhone 15 Pro models (Pro & Pro Max) will abandon the closely-watched solid-state button design and revert to the traditional physical button design,” he says in a report.

The rumour mill has been churning news about Apple dropping the volume rocker and the alert slider with iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models. The buttons were expected to be replaced by state-solid buttons with capacitive touch similar to the home button on the old iPhone. 

This, according to Kuo, may have hurted the investors as “the new solid-state button design would increase suppliers’ revenues and profits; thus, this change is particularly unfavorable for Cirrus Logic (exclusive Controller IC supplier) and AAC Technologies (Taptic Engine supplier).”

However, the iPhone 15 Pro is currently in the Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) development stage, so there is still time to modify the design, he adds. If the new models skip the much-anticipated solid-state buttons and restore the physical buttons, the development and testing process will be simplified, having a limited impact on mass production. This means that the new 2023 iPhones will ship on the usual time.

Apple iPhone 15 series may launch in September later this year. An important change coming with iPhone 15 Pro is the USB Type-C port that will replace the existing lightning port. The the Cupertino-based company is said to reduce the size of bezels and notch. As per 9to5Mac report, iPhone 15 Pro may have bezels as thin as 1.55mm. Both the front and back glass is rumoured to feature a subtle curvature of the edges that will seamlessly transition into the titanium frame of the device.