Apple plans to replace all iPhone 20 mechanical buttons with haptics
Apple is at the final stage of the development of a solid-state button system that could replace the mechanical buttons on the 20th anniversary iPhone. A new piece of information shared (source in Chinese) on Weibo by leaker Instant Digital claims that the redesign has passed functional verification and is scheduled for mass production in 2027.Apple’s new design may replace the power button, volume rockers, Action button, and Camera Control button with solid-state buttons with haptic feedback. That could confirm previous rumors claiming that the iPhone 20 could introduce a radical redesign, comparable to the iPhone X.
The Camera Control button is the first to get an overhaul
Apple introduced the Camera Control button with the iPhone 16 series. | Image credit – PhoneArena
Apple’s new design will remove the capacitive sensor layer and retain only the pressure sensor. The goal of the new design is to reduce the manufacturing cost of the button while retaining all the functionality for the iPhone 18.
That redesign won’t be anything groundbreaking. Other devices utilize a single sensor to achieve similar results. Phones like the Oppo X8 Ultra and the Vivo X200 Ultra support light taps, firm presses, and slide gestures while using only pressure sensors.
Apple is the master of fake buttons already
Replacing physical buttons with what are essentially fake buttons sounds bad, unless we’re talking about Apple. The company has mastered the art of fake clicks on the trackpad of its laptops, and I’m ready to bet that many MacBook users don’t even know that their trackpads are not actually clicking. I can’t think of a reason why the same lie wouldn’t work on an iPhone, and I trust Apple is capable of tricking us all.
