Apple’s Solid-State Button Plans May Go Beyond the iPhone
Credit: Yuheng Ouyang
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By all reports, Apple had a subtle but significant hardware upgrade in the works for its iPhone 15 lineup that never materialized. Had everything gone according to plan, at least some iPhone 15 models would have adopted capacitive solid-state controls to replace the physical buttons. Sadly, Apple’s ambitions were said to be derailed by “unresolved technical issues” just before the iPhone 15 Pro was set to go into mass production, forcing the company to revert to the physical buttons that have been standard on iPhones for years.
At the time, analysts and insiders believed Apple would simply push the technology off to the iPhone 16. After all, if this was merely a question of needing more time to perfect the technology, it seemed reasonable that another year should be plenty of time for Apple to crack whatever nut was holding it back. However, despite an April 2024 report that said Apple was ordering all the necessary components to make this happen, the iPhone 16 lineup appeared with only one new capacitive button: the Camera Control.
Perhaps the Camera Control was a test bed for the technology. Still, it seems odd that Apple could create a sophisticated button that responds to pressure sensitivity and swipe gestures in addition to standard presses, yet it left all of the other buttons — including the new Action button — as clickable mechanical components.
This led some to wonder if Apple had given up on the idea for some reason. However, a rumor last month from leaker Setsuna Digital (aka Instant Digital) claimed that Apple was still actively working to replace the four other buttons on its iPhones — the side button, volume up, volume down, and the Action button — with solid-state capacitive controls. According to supply chain sources, Apple is down to fine-tuning the sensors to strike the right balance between responsiveness and resistance to false touches.
Nevertheless, the leaker claimed that Apple had put the project, code-named “Bongo,” on the back burner as it’s considered a relatively low priority — a reasonable notion considering the mechanical buttons work fine.
Unlike the past two years, we’ve heard no reports about solid-state buttons coming to the iPhone 17 lineup, which indicates that Apple’s plans remain long-term. However, a report this week also suggests that Project Bongo may be far broader than anyone initially expected.
Setsuna Digital has posted a follow-up to their April Weibo post, indicating that Project Bongo is back in action, and it’s expanded beyond the iPhone to Apple’s “entire product line.”
Bongo project restarted, not only iPhone, Apple began to explore tactile button solutions for the entire product line, including iPad, Apple Watch ???
Setsuna Digital on Weibo (machine translated)
The post only mentions the iPad and Apple Watch as options, so it’s unclear how comprehensive this would be. We can’t see solid-state buttons being a priority for the MacBook, at least not in the short term, as it would be a massive departure from a physical keyboard. Long-term, though, who knows? Eliminating mechanical keys seems like it could help mitigate one of the biggest points of failure on modern laptops, but the tactile response would need to be nothing less than perfect.
While Setsuna Digital has a middling track record for Apple rumors, there’s been enough smoke around this particular one for the past two years to suggest Apple is working on something, and the idea itself isn’t a stretch.
Again, there’s no word on when any of this will happen. However, it makes sense that Apple is still working on this and would want to use the effort it’s put into developing and perfecting capacitive button technology to embrace as many devices as possible.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]
