Apple could be trying to make pressure-sensitive smartphones cool again

One of the new hardware features of the iPhone 15 is the Action Button. This is similar to the Action Button on the Apple Watch Ultra where users can customize it as a shortcut, although by default it actually replaces the physical silent mode switch. But with the iPhone 16, Apple could be revamping the Action Button in a big way.

This is according to a report from MacRumors who has seen the evidence to suggest such a change is coming. According to the report, the new Action Button is said to be a capacitive solid-state button that will apparently be able to detect changes in pressure. This means that depending on how hard users press on the button, it will be able to perform different functions.

Right now, the Action Button on the iPhone 15 only does one action, so having the ability to pull off multiple actions based on the pressure could be interesting. This wouldn’t be the first time Apple has experimented with pressure-sensitive technology. The company had previously introduced pressure-sensitive displays to the iPhone and Apple Watch, but it was ultimately a failed experiment.

This is because it was contingent on developers taking advantage of the technology, and also it wasn’t always clear which apps supported it, so most people ended up forgetting about it. If this report is accurate, limiting its functionality to actions specified by Apple could make it a lot more useful.

That being said, it should be noted that the information in the report is pre-production information, meaning that depending on how well the feature performs, Apple may or may not end up canceling it. Needless to say that this should be taken with a grain of salt for now, but what do you think? Is this a cool feature that you’d like to see in future Android handsets as well?

Source: MacRumors