Apple will celebrate 20 years of the iPhone in 2027, and it can take advantage of this to launch one of the biggest design changes in the last few years. The iPhone first came out in 2007, when Steve Jobs launched it. 10 years later, in 2017, the iPhone X made its way to the market and gave Apple phones an entirely new design. This time around, rumors suggest that Apple has got a new design change for the 20th anniversary iPhone. Earlier leaks revealed the possibility of a phone that comes in mostly glass exterior. Moreover, a new rumor has been doing the rounds that Apple might get rid of the Action Button in the next iPhone design.
Apple May Merge Action Button Functions With Camera Control
As revealed by the tipster Momentary Digital on the Chinese social media site Weibo, Apple plans to remove the standalone Action Button from the next generation anniversary edition iPhone. The new product is likely to come out in the second half of 2027 under the management of John Ternus.
Rather than completely eliminating the feature, it can be combined with the Camera Control button, according to the tipster. It suggests that the press of the button will keep on serving the same purpose as before, whereas holding it would bring up the function of the Action Button. This move, if made by the company, will make sure that all the custom shortcuts provided by the Action Button remain in use without an increase in the hardware components of the device. Nevertheless, it is not confirmed by Apple yet.
A Look at Apple's Action Button and Camera Control
The Action Button came with the introduction of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max in 2023. The Action Button substituted the conventional Ring/Silent button, giving users the opportunity to customize their actions via a physical button. In its default state, it operates the phone's ring tone mute function; however, one can customize it to do other things.
Initially, it was available only for the Pro phones; however, Apple soon released the feature for all models of the iPhone 16 series. Since its inception, no changes in the design and functions of the button were seen. The Camera Control, in turn, was released together with the iPhone 16 series. This feature differs from the former in that its primary function is taking photos and recording videos. Thus, it is possible to take pictures and operate camera modes via the touchpad.
The current implementation of Visual Intelligence on Apple's side involves a long press of the Camera Control button, where the camera will recognize the object being pointed at and show information about it. Interestingly, the rumored book-style folding iPhone dubbed the iPhone Duo would become the first iPhone after the iPhone 16 generation that doesn't feature an Action Button. Instead, the company introduced Touch ID as means for authentication while still retaining the Camera Control.
So far, Apple hasn't made any announcements about their upcoming 20th anniversary iPhone. Thus, all of the information mentioned above should be considered rumors until the official statement from the company.
