1 week Ago
seems to have developed an obsession with buttons during the last couple of iPhone generations, specifically with changing buttons (consider the move from a mute switch to an Action button) and adding them (see the new Camera Control button). Previous leaks suggested that in recent years, and now we’ve seen a prototype showing one of these proposed changes in action. YouTuber (via ) has shown off a prototype , complete with a haptic volume button.
Rather than the two volume keys on current iPhones, the model in question just has a single button, and it’s a solid-state button rather than a mechanical one – meaning it won’t move when pressed, but is designed to provide haptic feedback, so you know the press has been registered. This prototype uses the same technology for the power button, but it’s the volume buttons that we’re most interested in here, because an leak suggests this upcoming phone could have . That, then, would be different to what we see here, but with this prototype, Apple has already replaced two volume keys with a single button, so it’s partway to what this leak suggests.
Possibly still planned Now, this iPhone 17 Pro leak doesn’t say whether a solid-state button will be used, but this is an idea Apple has seemingly spent a while exploring, with previously sharing images of an prototype that also had a unified, haptic volume button. On top of which, some leaks even suggested . That of course didn’t happen, and leaks suggest Apple eventually gave up on the idea due to its complexity.
But given the company’s current obsession with changing up the buttons on its phones, and the aforementioned leak about a new combined button on the iPhone 17 Pro, it’s possible that Apple is still working on some version of this concept. Of course, that doesn’t mean an iPhone 17 Pro with unified volume buttons – let alone solid-state ones – will actually launch, but it’s a possibility. And if not, then this iPhone 14 Pro prototype is still an interesting look at what could have been.
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