Over the past few years, it was reported that the company was planning to adopt a solid-state solution for its buttons on the iPhone. However, the company has released two generations of iPhones since the news first emerged. It is now reported that Apple will ditch the Action Button and combine it with the Volume Button on the iPhone 17 Pro models.
The iPhone 17 Pro could feature one less button, as the company could combine Action and Volume Buttons
As mentioned, Apple plans to adopt a solid-state solution with Volume buttons are elongated for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 lineup. If you’re not familiar with the technical language, iPhones are supposed to feature a single long volume button, which is not mechanical. Instead, the company will opt for a Taptic Engine for Haptic Feedback, similar to how the company implements Camera Control Buttons.
A tipster who goes by his name Majin ma’am claimed that he had been informed about the changes that would come to the iPhone 17 Pro models. Apple has been working on introducing new buttons to the iPhone lineup, featuring a new Action Button last year and a new Camera Control button this year. Next year, the company may plan to combine Volume and Action Buttons to minimize distractions.
It remains to be seen how Apple will do this, but based on recent trends, we suspect the company could utilize capacitive touch technology, similar to the Camera Control Button. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Camera Control functions as standard buttons, but also has built-in capacitive controls, meaning you can swipe up and down for different tasks.
This means that if the company plans to combine Action Buttons and Volume Buttons, it can use the same technology. For example, a standard press will initiate Action Button control while a basic tap and swipe will adjust the device volume. This is just speculation based on our understanding of how the company was able to achieve these improvements, and the end story could be very different for the iPhone 17 Pro models.
Apple is also expected to launch it new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air, which according to previous reports will be more expensive than the ‘Pro’ model, but could serve as an experimental device for the company. The button merge is reportedly specifically for the iPhone 17 Pro, but could also happen on standard iPhone 17 models. Do you think Apple will combine volume and Action Buttons on the iPhone 17 Pro?