Apple’s next big step: The iPhone 20 could reportedly get rid of every physical button

future iPhone It may not have physical buttons, depending on Unconfirmed report From a leaker using Instant Digital, who shared the information on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

Technology news website 9to5Mac Translate this post from Chinese.

“The solid-state button system of the Apple iPhone has completed functional verification and is planned to be mass-produced and applied to the iPhone 20 in 2027,” the translation read. “At that time, the power button, volume button, power button and camera control button will be upgraded to solid-state buttons with local vibration feedback.”

An Apple representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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It’s not a completely new concept in Smartphone world.

“There have been a lot of Android phones that have tried to partially replace buttons with fake buttons,” CNET managing editor Patrick Holland said. “But in 2018, HTC launched the U12 Plus, which lacked physical buttons. Instead, there were raised areas that were touch-sensitive and mimicked the movement and feel of a real button using touch.”

Haptics refers to the iPhone’s way of providing feedback through vibrations or taps, which can let users know they’ve touched the right place on the phone, even if there’s no physical button to feel.

A buttonless iPhone may take Apple customers some time to get used to, but Holland sees a silver lining in the lack of physical buttons.

“The positive side is that there is nothing that can break,” he added. “Apple has had haptic buttons on its devices for years. The home button on the iPhone 7 and later were all haptic buttons. All of the trackpads on MacBooks have used capacitive touch, rather than physical hardware, for nearly a decade.”

Holland also points out that while Instant Digital, the account that leaked this report, has a mixed record when it comes to accuracy, “recently more of (their reports) have been right than others.”

Even in 2021, there were rumors that the upcoming model at that time The iPhone 13 will not have physical buttonsA similar rumor appeared iPhone 15 Pro.