Apple loves its minimalist design philosophy, which led to the disappearance of the iPhone’s physical home button, headphone jack, and more. Now the company could be eyeing the removal of physical power and volume buttons on its next iPhone Pro model.
Since all the way back in October 2022, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has been saying that Apple wants to swap out the physical buttons on its iPhone with solid-state buttons. On Wednesday, Kuo reiterated that prediction in a series of tweets.
My latest survey indicates that high-end iPhone 15 models will feature solid-state buttons and will equip with additional Taptic Engines to simulate the feel of physical buttons’ force feedback.
Cirrus Logic is the primary winner for canceling physical buttons and the change to adopt solid-state buttons on the 2H23 high-end iPhone 15 models.
As the exclusive supplier of Taptic Engine’s controller IC for solid-state buttons, Cirrus Logic stands to benefit markedly from this new design. If users respond well to this new design, I think it may be adopted in other high-end models of product lines in the future.
Based on Kuo’s forecast, Apple could use its iPhone 15 Pro as a test subject to gauge how users feel about solid-state power and volume buttons. And the Taptic Engine would mimic the “clicky” feel of an actual physical button. This would make the power and volume buttons similar to the solid-state home button Apple introduced in the iPhone 7.
Additionally, Kuo claims if the change is well received, we could see Apple bring solid-state buttons to more of its devices in the future.
