In October of last year we learned, for the first time, of Apple’s plans to replace the physical buttons with haptic controls on the iPhone 15, a rumor that was reinforced at the end of February by a new leak that pointed in this regard. Thus, a month ago when compiling all the news that can come from the hand of the new generation, we included this radical change in it, although posing precisely that, that it is a very pronounced change, and that therefore might not be liked by everyone.
At Apple, however, and in light of the leaks, they seemed quite pleased with the idea. It is not the first time that they take the scissors for a walk. We’ve already seen it, just talking about the iPhone, with the removal of the home button and the minijack connector for headphones. And the truth is that both changes set a trend, since today it is increasingly difficult to find a smartphone from any manufacturer that has one of both elements (to the grief of users who prefer wired headphones for certain circumstances).
So, we were practically made to the idea that the iPhone 15 Pro would mark the beginning of the end of the physical buttons to control the volume, since we can imagine that what happened in the two cases that I mentioned above would be repeated on this occasion. Not from one day to the next, of course, but it would become a trend that sooner or later other manufacturers would adopt in their top-of-the-range devices. That’s how this market works, right?
It seems, however, that Apple’s plans have gone awry. Replacing physical buttons with haptic controls does not seem like a simple thing and, according to the reputable and generally accurate analyst Ming-Chi Kuo on his Medium page, Apple has given up haptic controls on the iPhone 15 due to technical problems. Specifically, this is what we can read (translated) in said publication:
“My latest survey indicates that due to unresolved technical issues prior to full-scale production, the two high-end models of the iPhone 15 (Pro and Pro Max) will drop the much talked about solid-state button design, and they will return to the traditional physical button design.
From there, he goes on to analyze the impact of this change on the main suppliers of the components needed for these controls, Cirrus Logic (exclusive driver IC supplier) and AAC Technologies, and also states that this change should not negatively influence the calendar planned for the production and distribution of the iPhone 15 Pro, since the return to the physical buttons simplifies the design and production, taking them to a much more familiar and comfortable scenario for the company.
However, we can understand that it is a delay in the implementation of this technology, not a cancellation. Not knowing the depth of the technical problem we can not speculate about it, but hopefully it will not take too long (in terms of generations, you know what I mean) to see how Apple finally gets away with an iPhone without buttons.
