How do you explain to someone that to turn off an iPhone you have to use the volume up button? Well… it makes sense, since on a current iPhone there aren’t too many buttons we can press to ask it to turn off, but on the other hand, is the volume up button the only option?
The apple company is preparing to launch its new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models, and interesting details are already leaking out that could change the way we interact with these devices. One of the expected changes is the introduction of a new action button that will replace the function of the volume buttons when turning off or restarting the phone.
The function of the off button on the iPhone 15 will be different thanks to a new button
Until now, on newer iPhone models such as the iPhone 14, the only way to turn off our device is to simultaneously press the side button and any of the volume buttons. The same combination of these buttons was also used to perform a hard reset. However, according to an anonymous source – with a brief but accurate history of leaks – who claims to have insider information about the upcoming phones (via MacRumors), the new action button will assume this role on the iPhone 15 Pro models.
In fact the change makes perfect sense. Whether to take a screenshot, to shoot a photo when we are in the Camera app, to turn off the iPhone or to force it to restart, the use of this “wildcard” button seems the right thing to do. It has not been so on the Apple Watch Ultra, certainly, where this button has been reserved for a single use and no other, not even combined with others such as the digital crown or the side button. That said, the complexity of the iPhone and the use we make of its buttons is another and may be one of the reasons for adding more options.
According to the source on Twitter, the combination of volume and side buttons will no longer be used to turn off the device or to force restart it. Instead, the sequence will change to the action button and side button combination.
Going a bit further than simply taking a photo by tapping the action button in question, the source claims that the pressure sensitivity would allow a light press to automatically focus the shot and a harder press to take the photo. A long, hard press would record a video.
Right now, however, these changes are a bit up in the air. Recall that some sources have indicated that Apple has had technical problems with capacitive buttons on the iPhone 15 Pro models, which could delay their implementation for a later version of the device. The source, on the other hand, disagrees and believes that these buttons will arrive on the iPhone 15 Pro.
It is undeniable that, if these new features are confirmed, the iPhone 15 will bring significant changes to the way we handle our mobile devices. The introduction of the action button could be just the beginning. We have already seen it on the Apple Watch Ultra and now it could make some gestures that we already perform with our iPhone more logical. Gestures that, as we started by saying, now cost a bit to explain, and especially to discover, but that could be much more intuitive with a customizable and pressure-sensitive action button.
It is important to remember that the information we are talking about comes from leaks and there is no official confirmation from Apple, so we should take it with some skepticism. As the launch date approaches, it is usual that the arrival of new features will be confirmed with more certainty. In any case, although now we can only be patient and keep an eye on the latest news while we wait for WWDC 2023, it is clear that the iPhone 15 has a lot to surprise us.
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