Fresh renders for the iPhone 15 Pro have appeared online, revealing the rumoured taptic replacement for the beloved mute switch.
Douyin user chenwen1987 (Douyin being the Chinese version of TikTok) has posted some more renders (via Notebookcheck) of the forthcoming iPhone 15 Pro, and there are a couple of interesting new details. You can see stills of these renders thanks to established tipster ShrimpApplePro.
Most notably, we get a view of the flagship phone’s much discussed side buttons. These so-called ‘Taptic buttons” will apparently replace the physical power and volume keys with non-physical alternatives on the iPhone 15 Pro, with Apple’s peerless haptics providing feedback rather than relying on a physical click.
One other claim that emerged in recent weeks is that Apple will be replacing its beloved mute switch with a similar Taptic button. This has seemingly been pictured in the latest renders.
As you can see, there’s a single ‘button’ for volume control. There’s a separate smaller button for muting the device in the traditional mute switch position right above the volume controls.
These solid-state buttons are expected to make their way to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max only. If you’re a stickler for physical controls, then, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus could be the way to go in 2023.
There would be a couple of potential advantages to this solid state approach, however. One will be additional robustness. Moving parts mean greater wear and tear and greater potential for dust and moisture ingress. The other is the potential for analogue control, with a harder press potentially leading to a more aggressive cranking up of the volume (for example).
