MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1515807
Last week, The Information’s Wayne Ma echoed the earlier comments from MacRumors that the button would be a “key selling point” for the iPhone 16 lineup, adding that it’s designed for taking videos and photos while holding the iPhone horizontally. "Apple is testing a new button on prototypes of the iPhone 16 to help people quickly take videos and photos when they hold the device horizontally, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. Apple has envisioned the new camera button as a key selling point for the device, these people said." — Wayne Ma Ma goes on to say that the button is designed in response to “individual video content creators and mobile apps that host user-generated content” like TikTok, that have “increasingly shift[ed] their attention to horizontal videos” since these play nicer on larger screens like televisions. However, the key point in Ma’s report is that this “Capture Button” will do more than take pictures and start and stop video recording. Instead, sources say the touch-sensitive “Capture Button” will also support a range of gestures, allowing users to do things like zoom in and out by moving their finger along the edge of the button. Interestingly, the button may not be capacitative. According to The Information, it will be mechanical with a touch-sensitive surface on top, perhaps similar in concept to the Touch ID button found on Apple’s non-Pro iPad models. It will also be pressure-sensitive, allowing it to work more like a traditional shutter button on a digital camera. For example, users will be able to focus with a light or partial press and then push all the way down to capture a photo or start a recording. Since the Capture Button is intended to assist with horizontal photography and videography, Apple reportedly plans to put it on the right side of the iPhone, below the power button, where the user’s left finger would naturally rest on it when holding the iPhone sideways to take photos or record video. To facilitate this, the mmWave antenna on US models will need to be moved to the left side, where the SIM card slot used to live before Apple eliminated it in the US iPhone 14 lineup. Of course, as with all such rumors, take these with a healthy dose of salt or your favorite sodium alternative. While there are enough corroborating reports to suggest Apple is working on a Capture Button, the company has yet to finalize the design of the iPhone 16, and even when it does, just like last year’s saga of the solid-state buttons, there’s no guarantee the “Capture Button” will make it into the final product.