Apple may replace the physical volume and power buttons with solid-state versions that use haptic feedback in the iPhone 15 Pro. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote this in a tweet spotted by MacRumors. The design would be similar to the non-physical Home button on the iPhone 7, which uses the Taptic Engine to mimic a button press with vibrations.
“There will be Taptic Engines located on the internal left and right sides to provide force feedback to make users feel like they are pressing physical buttons,” Kuo said on Twitter. “Due to this design change, the number of Taptic Engines used in each iPhone will increase from the current one to three.”
Apple had planned a similar change for the Watch to improve water resistance, according to rumors in 2018, but that never happened. However, it is unclear how the buttonless design could benefit the iPhone since two other tactile motors would add weight to the smartphone instead.
